These Four Walls
by liljemsey
Summary: She went to prison willingly to atone for her crimes but she didn't think that her crimes would follow her there.
1. Chapter 1

This wasn't no regular prison. She knew that for sure.

There were people here deemed the worse in society who were in there for life for crimes even she was too afraid to think of.

And she, she had been deemed the worst because of her supernatural strength and they had taken it upon themselves to make sure that they broke her.

To those looking in from the outside the women's prison in California looked like any other ordinary prison, but for the dark Slayer on in the inside it was a fate worse than hell. Magic, they had told her had slowly ebbed away her power leaving her defenceless and vulnerable and the girl who was barely seventeen found herself tortured mercilessly day in and day out till she was no more than a shell of the vivacious spirit she had once been.

Visits from Angel, her saviour only pulled her deeper into her personal hell as he chatted happily about the goings on in his life seemingly unaware of her tortured appearance, the cuts and welts that marred her body going unnoticed by the one she thought could rescue her once again. His ignorance only served to damage her fragile state of mind even further and she begged for them to kill her. They refused of course; telling her over and over again that this is what she deserved, the beatings, the mental and physical torture was her punishment for her crimes. She believed them having been told over and over again that she was worthless, that there was something wrong with her that this is all that she would even be pushed her further towards the brink.

They would tell her later to further her pain that they had used magic to create a glamour and shield her true appearance from her saviour so that even he had no idea how bad it was for her. The magic was what stopped her being able to tell him what was going on, every time she tried it was as if her mouth couldn't form the words that her brain was screaming at her to say.

So she would wait curled up on the floor of her cell to wait when they would make a mistake, anything that would allow her to escape, escape from the hell within these four walls.


	2. Chapter 2

Sometimes it was quiet and they would leave her alone the yelling and cat calls of the other prisoners a welcome silence from the voices their usual taunts in her ear. Sometimes their physiological torture would be a welcome break from the physical abuse from the prison guards eager to take advantage of her magically prolonged weakened state.

When they told her she had visitors she couldn't find the energy to be grateful that someone cared enough about her to come and visit. Their ignorance about what was going on behind closed doors made it harder to sit across from them and try and keep up the small talk, all the while gritting her teeth to try and break the spell that kept her from spilling the truth.

This time was no different she shuffled listlessly behind the guard who led her by her shackled hands and feet towards the room where prisoners could speak with their loved ones. Her head hung low her hair hanging in her face shielding her from however waited for her in the visitor's room. It was more painful to see them and know that they could never save her then it would be if they hadn't cared enough to visit in the first place.

"You've got five minutes Lehane," the guard said roughly pushing her down into the chair causing the nearly healed welts on her back to reopen painfully. Of course to anyone on the other side of the thick class it looked like the two had a pleasant exchange of words but the other prisoners in the room smirked when they heard her pained whimper.

When she finally looked up at the person on the other side of the glass the pain in her back was almost forgotten when she met the piercing blue eyes staring back at her.

"Hello Faith," her former Watcher said.

"Wes?" she replied. Since she had been incarcerated the only person who had come to visit her was Angel so seeing the British man on the other side of the glass caused a cold feeling of dread to trickle down her spine fearing that something had happened to the souled vampire. As much as his visits pained her she still felt better knowing that he was alive and continuing to fight for his redemption, something that she would never be able to accomplish with them constantly whispering in her ears.

"I'm afraid we don't have long," Wesley told her placing a purple crystal down on the table in front of him.

"What do you mean? What's going on?" Faith asked flinching back when he fixed her with a stern stare.

"I'm only giving you what you deserve," he growled.

"What I deserve? Wes why are you here?" she whimpered the sudden tenseness of her muscles reminding her of the beating she had received earlier in the day.

"Just came to give you a little reminder of what you are," he said loudly enough so the guard standing behind her could hear his smirk of satisfaction sending shivers down her spine.

"Wh-what I am," she stuttered looking into the cold eyes in front of her.

"You know what you are," Wesley said slamming has palm down onto the crystal in front of him a flashing white light erupting from its centre as it shattered.

"We don't have much time," Wesley repeated again only this time his voice was softer, warmer and she looked up at him with weary eyes.

"I'm here to get you out of here, Cordy had a vision about everything that's been going on here and we're sorry we didn't realise earlier but we have to get out of here they'll only be like that for five minutes," Wesley said indicating everyone else in the room who had frozen in the position they had been in right before he broke the crystal.

"I don't understand," she said uncertainly her wariness of his sudden change in character making her nervous.

"I'm sorry about earlier I had to make them think that I wasn't here to be friendly with you or they may have gotten suspicious about the uh, magical implements," he said indicating the crystal remnants in front of him.

"No, wh-why would you want to save me," she asked her eyes dropping to her lap all earlier hope that someone someday would save her gone and all the insecurities whispered in her ear constantly came rushing back.

"Because we care about you, because it's the right thing to do, because nobody deserves the sort of treatment you've been getting in here no matter the crime," Wesley said putting his things back in his back.

"We're going to need to break through the glass," he told her.

"I-I can't," she replied softly and he took a second to take in the difference in the girl that sat in front of him. The glamour was still in place but underneath that he knew she was battered and bruised, Cordelia had seen it all in her vision the torture of the last three years suffered by the young woman in front of him who was now just shy of her nineteenth birthday. The glamour could not hide the change in her demeanour however and the change in the way she spoke was distinctly evident to him now. She was no longer brash and outspoken, she was timid and cautious as if expecting something terrible to happen every time she spoke, which he considered probably had been happening on a regular basis.

The most noticeable was the way she would flinch every time he said something to her a way that made her look nothing like the confident teen he had met all those years ago in Sunnydale but more like a terrified little girl who needed nothing more than somewhere to hold her tight and take care of her.

"I know you can't break it," he said softly, "you're going to have to step away though so it doesn't hit you," Wesley said picking up his chair more than a little concerned that even he was stronger than she was at this moment. She did as he said stepping away from the glass looking warily at the frozen guard next to her. The old her would have taken advantage of his current situation and rewarded him with a few beatings similar to the ones he had brutally delivered to her over the years but the new her was still terrified that this was another one of their tricks and he would somehow find a way to get her back so she stood almost as still as he was waiting to see what Wesley would do next.

She didn't have to wait long before he threw his seat through the plate glass the loud smashing sound causing her to jump and throw her hands up in front of her face on instinct a move that her ex-Watcher did not fail to catch. She looked again frightened at the guard beside her sure that the sound would have broken him from his frozen state before looking back at Wesley who held his hand out to her beckoning her forward. Tentatively she placed a shaking hand in his allowing him to help her through the broken window and onto the other side.

"A-aren't they gonna notice that?" she asked him indicating the broken glass, "w-what will they do to me when they notice I'm gone?" she asked shuddering at the thought and pulling her hand back from his wrapping her arms tightly around her too-thin body.

"It will be as if you were never here, we have some pretty serious magicks of our own," Wesley said leading her out of the room and past the frozen guards that lined the hall.

"W-Wes, I-I can't, they'll come for me," she said stopping when they reached the large steel doors that would lead them out of the prison. The voices that had whispered to her over and over again that they would hunt her down if she ever left coming back full force as she looked at his hand resting on the keypad that would force the electronic locks to open.

"Faith, nothing is going to get you, but we need to get out of these doors now because if we don't get out before those guards unfreeze my other spell won't work and all that erasure I spoke of earlier won't happen and we'll be in some serious trouble," Wesley said reaching his hand out to her again.

"Okay," she said taking his hand biting her lip nervously as she looked behind her. As much as she was scared of what would happen to her once she stepped outside those doors she was more terrified of what would happen if they found her halfway through an attempted escape. Wesley waved his hand over the keypad a yellow glow emanating from his hand the clicking of a lock sliding sounded and the metal doors in front of them groaned as they slid open.

Her eyes widened in shock, certain that he hadn't been able to do that back in Sunnydale. She was a little afraid her previous experiences with magic hadn't been all too pleasant what with the new ways that had discovered to make her scream by draining her energy and then using it back against her. She wondered what he could do to her with that hand.

"A lot has changed since you last saw me," he said misreading her frightened expression.

"Where's Angel?" she asked as he pulled her outside suddenly remembering her earlier fears that a horrible fate had befallen the souled vampire.

"After Cordelia's vision we wanted to get you out of there as soon as possible and there was the little problem of daylight but he is waiting for you at the hotel," Wesley said leading her over to a black sedan that was parked on the edge of the carpark.

"Everything's going to be alright now," he told her as he helped her into the front passenger seat.

"_Yes,_" a sinister voice whispered in her ear, "_everything's going to be alright_."

Over the two hour drive back into the city the glamour that had been covering her appearance had almost faded completely and Wesley couldn't stop himself from looking over at his passenger every so often not able to stop the gasps that escaped as more and more of her injuries were revealed. She had fallen asleep half an hour into their drive, the motion of the car lulling her into a false state of relaxation. Though her eyes were closed and her breaths were slow and even it was clear that she was far from peaceful as she held her body as far away from him as possible crushed up against the passenger side door and every so often a pained whimper would escape her cracked lips.

Night had fallen by the time they reached the outskirts of the city and Wesley knew that Angel would be waiting impatiently for them back at the hotel. He had never seen the souled vampire as outraged as he had been when Cordelia had explained her vision to them. Pulling up at a set of lights he looked over again at his charge as another terrified whimper sounded. His gaze was drawn past her face when he spotted two vampires pulling a struggling woman between them into an alley. He was torn, he didn't want to leave her but he couldn't take her with him because in her current state without her Slayer powers she was in no condition to fight. She was still fast asleep so he decided he would take his chances he couldn't just ignore the vampires so he got out of the car hoping that he could get rid of the demons as quickly as possible.

"_Faithy," _a voice whispered in her ear as soon as Wesley was out of view, "_it's time to get up Faithy,"_ the voice said again. She stirred in her seat shaking her head in protest as she tried to ignore whoever it was trying to disturb her. "_Come on Faithy you don't want to get me mad do you, you remember what happens then_," the voice said. Her eyes opened in horror this time recognising the voice that sent chills down her spine. She looked over to Wesley's seat and sudden fear stilled her as she realised that he was nowhere in sight.

"W-Wes?" she called timidly biting her lip and looking around for him, not able to stop the strangled scream that got caught in her throat when she saw the figure that haunted her day and night leaning down so that his face was pressed up right to her window. His grey skin hung off his gaunt cheek bones and his eyes previously warm and caring were dead a lifeless as they stared deep into her soul.

"_Hey Faithy, thought you could get rid of me didn't ya, thought that escaping was the key, but guess again baby you can't get rid of me that easily,"_ the man said stroking his bony finger down her window.

"Wha-what did you do to him?" she asked her voice trembling as she shrunk away from the glass.

"_I didn't do anything, the glamour is gone baby and he can saw you for what you really were and decided to take off, can't really blame him can you? I mean who would want to spend their time with someone as worthless and pathetic as you are,"_ the voice laughed.

"No, no," she said shaking her head frantically, "why would he go to all the trouble of getting me out if he was just going to abandon me?"

"_All part of the game Faithy, another way to make you pay, make you pay for what you did to me, look at it, look at what you did," _he yelled.

"No," she whimpered scrunching her eyes shut.

"_Look at it, this is what you are, all that you'll ever be, you're bad Faithy, evil, a monster, look at it," _he screamed and in her shock she jumped her eyes flying open only to be faced with the his hands clawing at the stake protruding from his chest, blood running in a steady stream from between his fingers as he tried desperately to pull it out.

"Nononononono," she cried tears beginning to stream from her eyes. She knew it was too good to be true. Why would Wesley come after all this time to save her, it was all part of their game to make her pay because she was bad, there was something wrong with her.

The air in the car became too thick and she struggled to breathe and she threw her door open in an attempt to breathe easier and ran away from the car, her choking sobs echoing through the night.

"_That's it Faithy, run, run like you always do, but you can't escape us, there is no one out there who can save you from us_," he laughed cruelly.

But he was wrong. There was someone who could help her. Someone whose help she didn't deserve but had once silently begged for, only this time she wouldn't beg silently. She would scream and cry if it meant she got heard but she would do anything for them to leave her alone to escape the terrifying hell that had arrived when it should have been her shot at redemption.

She would save her, she was the only one who could.


	3. Chapter 3

She was glad that Wesley had packed a change of clothes for her because the other occupants of the bus probably wouldn't have taken too kindly to someone wearing a state issued prison uniform joining them for the two hour trip. As it was they gave her a wide berth, probably had something to do with her battered appearance and the way she would mutter seemingly to herself every so often. While she wasn't currently in possession of her usual super powers years of living on the streets had left her with survival skills and she had managed to steal enough money for the fare.

Of course she wasn't alone on the trip they made sure of that. Taunting her over and over, whispering words in her ears that had been thrown at her years before.

"_You apologise to her and she will beat you to death Faithy. You're a loser, she said so herself, why would she help you?"_

"She will, she will, she will," she muttered to herself covering her ears with her hands. The old couple who had ventured closest to her moved further up the bus as they heard her agitated whispers.

Sunnydale wasn't as different as she thought it would be. The last time she was here it had proven to be her downfall and this time around she was counting on it being her salvation. The bus station still was dimly lit and smelled like a garbage tip. The whole town still made the base of her spine tingle letting her know that evil was all around.

The years of torture had taught her that it was always safer to follow instructions and without even realising it they had whispered directions into her ear and lead her to the spot where it had all began to crumble. When realisation finally hit her she felt her knees wobble and buckle beneath her and she collapsed to the ground landing hard causing a few of her old wounds to reopen. Closer to the ground it was like she could smell the death that emanated from the wall in front of her and he was there, looking exactly like he had that day.

"_Do you remember this night Faithy? Remember how it felt when you plunged that stake deep into my heart? Remember what it felt like to have my blood dripping from your fingertips? Remember the way she looked at you after?"_

She couldn't help the bile that rose in her throat and she gagged as her senses were assaulted with the phantom smell of blood. It was all over her, her hands were stained and she scrubbed them furiously against the hard concrete ground to try and rid them of her mistakes. Her own blood mixed with the ghostly reminders and she screamed in frustration as pain both mental and physical reverberated down her spine.

"_Look at yourself, you're disgusting, you're a killer Faithy and you'll never be anything else."_

She had to get away from this place it was suffocating her, the memories as well as their presence was making it hard to breathe. She shook her head to try and make him go away but when she opened her eyes he was still there, his sickening gray skin looking more ghostly in the pale moonlight.

"Leave me alone," she screamed, her pleading echoing down through the darkened alleyway.

"_You think that I want to be here? You think that I want to spend my afterlife looking into the eyes of my killer? You think I want to look at the worthless and pathetic creature that you are? But it's what you deserve, you have to pay for what you've done, you deserve to suffer just like you made me suffer when you brutally slammed your stake into my heart." _

"I didn't mean to, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it," she cried a tear leaking out from the corner of her eye.

"_You're sorry, I've heard that before, you think that makes up for what you did. You haven't seen anything yet kid. Don't go too far, I'll be seeing you." _

Despite his warning of being back later more tears fell in relief that she was finally alone in the darkened alley. Placing her hands down to push herself back up she couldn't stop herself from throwing up the contents of her stomach as she tried to support her body weight on her red raw hands. Groaning she used the wall behind her to help her stand and leaned back against it drawing in deep breaths as she tried to calm her pounding heart.

Finally able to steady herself she stumbled slightly as she pushed away from the wall and made her way back onto the streets. If the residents of Sunnydale found it strange that a girl in her condition was stumbling down the road they didn't take too much notice most of them were scurrying towards home trying to escape the rain that had begun to fall. If she had been in a better state of mind she may have laughed at the irony but as it was she didn't even bother to push the wet strands of hair that fell into her face.

Turning onto the familiar street she swayed as the familiar tingling of her Slayer connection intensified tenfold, the buzzing in her spine almost blocking out any other pain she had been feeling. Her feet almost stopped working as the fear of what that familiar house would hold for her but the fear of what they would do to her if she didn't out won any other fear she had so she continued on.

When she passed that familiar mailbox she stopped when she saw a figure illuminated by the house lights behind her. From the familiar stance and the way her whole body seemed to warm there was no mistaking who it was that stood in the doorway. She couldn't stop the intense relief that flooded through her as she stumbled closer, the figure in the doorway seeming happy enough to let her be the one to make the first move. Stopping just in front of her, she took a moment to look up at the girl in front of her who she hadn't seen in four years. She looked different, almost hardened but there was still that something there, that quality that was inherently hers.

"Buffy," she said before the pure exhaustion and four years of hell caught up with her and she was pitching forward and welcoming the oncoming darkness.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Going for a change of POV here probably will be in Buffy's point of view for the rest of the story.**

Before she could hit the ground Buffy rushed forward and caught her, putting one arm under her knees and one around her shoulders she cradled her against her body in a way that one wouldn't expect from a once mortal enemy. Angel had called her earlier in the day and explained what was going on and had told her that Faith may be headed her way. He sounded worried and seeing Faith now she knew he hadn't been exaggerating when he said that prison had been torturous for her sister Slayer.

The intense tingling that had started in the base of her spine had alerted her to the fact that Faith was in town and she was waiting for the brunette in the doorway when she had seen the former bad girl stumbling up the road. At first she had thought she was drunk but as she got closer the cuts and bruises were illuminated by the streetlights and Buffy could see the younger girl trembling and looking over her shoulder with every step she took. This was not the same brazen, outspoken, sexual innuendo spurting Faith that had first arrived in Sunnydale, nor was it the murderous, angry and violent Faith that had sided with the Mayor, this Faith was broken, so broken that she couldn't even make it all the way up to the house.

Truth be told Buffy wasn't sure how she was supposed to react to the other Slayer's presence. The last time they had seen each other she had threatened to beat the other girl to death if she had apologised to her and now it looked like Faith nearly had been beaten to death. And now really wasn't the best time for a Slayer not to be at their best what with the First of all evils threatening to eradicate the Slayer line and bring hell to earth.

Buffy readjusted her hold on the girl in her arms and looked down into the tortured face that rested against her chest. Even unconscious Faith looked like hell and Buffy couldn't stop the wave of sympathy that rushed through her like a cold wind shocking her with its intensity. She was also hit with major déjà vu as Faith's face looked so much like it had that day back in senior year before graduation when she had fallen into her coma. She hadn't really had time to speak with her friends about Faith maybe heading their way so she knew this was going to come as a shock and maybe a touch of anger, an emotion surprisingly she herself wasn't feeling at the dark Slayer's arrival.

Plus there were the Potentials that now filled every spare corner of her home and then some, she would have to explain to them about Faith's past, about their past and that wasn't a story she liked to tell. There was also no way of gauging how Faith would react once she woke up, Angel said she was being haunted by something and judging by their all too recent haunting experiences with Spike it didn't really make a person act all sane like.

Steeling herself for the reaction she was about to get Buffy tightened her grip and carried Faith in through the front door. She let out a breath when she was immediately assaulted with questions and accusations and it took her a minute to remember that Anya was conducting a session about axe wielding down in the basement for the Potentials. She contemplated taking Faith straight up to her bedroom but that would be too much like she was trying to hide the other girl from the rest of them which totally isn't what she wanted to do and would be all too much like the hiding of Angel that happened that time so she settled for the living room couch which was for once clear of the sleeping bags and dirty clothes that had come to call it home since the arrival of the SIT's.

She was just laying Faith down on the couch when a voice from the hallway caused her to straighten and turn with an almost guilty look on her face.

"Nothing," she said knowing from the look on Willow's face that that hadn't been an acceptable answer to whatever question she had asked.

"Buffy, is, is that Faith?" Willow asked coming further into the room and looking incredulously at the dark Slayer lying on the couch.

"Will I can explain, wait I don't need to explain I didn't have anything to do with this. Angel called, something has been torturing Faith the whole time she's been in prison and blocking anyone from seeing it until Cordelia had a vision and well long story even longer they broke her out, she freaked and ran and then voila here she is," Buffy said waving her hands over Faith's prone body.

"Okay minor panic gone, now I'm totally in Scooby mode, something's been torturing her, I mean she's a Slayer right so she'd have to have been able to defend herself, gosh looking at her I'd hate to see the other guy," Willow rambled taking in Faith's battered appearance.

"Angel said something about them doing a spell that took away her Slaying powers, I uh, I don't think there was any kind of defending on Faith's part," Buffy said softly her heart aching in an unfamiliar way when she thought about what the younger girl had been subjected to.

"Buff her hands," Willow said quietly moving in closer to the couch and kneeling down in front of the prone Slayer. Buffy took in a sharp intake of breath when she saw Faith's hands which she had rubbed raw earlier in the night.

"Will can you get the first aid kit they should be cleaned and the rest of them should be looked at as well," Buffy said pulling herself out of her sudden shock and falling immediately into business mode something she had been doing a lot of lately. Willow nodded and quickly exited the room while Buffy took the opportunity to study Faith's hands. She picked them up and gently turned them over in her own tracing the raw skin gently with her fingertips. She couldn't conceive of how Faith could have gotten wounds such as these but didn't have time to consider it any longer because Willow came back with the first aid kit.

Sitting herself on the edge of the couch by Faith's head Buffy took the antiseptic wipes from her friend and swiped them gingerly over Faith's hands. The dark Slayer didn't flinch and this encouraged Buffy to clean them quickly and was wrapping them up in bandages when Xander and Giles walked into the room. This time both Willow who had been dressing the wounds on Faith's stomach and Buffy who was finishing up on her hands looked up guiltily at the two men. Buffy mentally chided herself again, she had nothing to feel guilty about it's not like she herself was the one who had been torturing Faith all those years.

"Buffy, Faith not in prison, crazy Slayer right here in the living room," Xander spluttered hiding himself behind Giles, "which I now realise you both know because she is clearly unconscious, your work I hope," he said turning to Buffy.

"Not my work I had nothing to do with this," Buffy told him and Xander appeared to get over his shock and fear and stepped out from behind Giles.

"Why is psycho slut bomb here anyway? And what happened to her?" Xander asked still not coming any closer.

Buffy scowled at him and ignored the insult which annoyed her more than she thought it would and turned to speak to her Watcher.

"Angel called earlier, Cordelia had a vision of Faith in prison, something supernatural has been torturing her the whole time she was in there and he thinks some spell was blocking anyone from noticing. He sent Wesley to break her out and they got out of there and then she ran away from them, he didn't know if she would head here he was just giving me a sort of heads up and then well she showed up not looking her best and here she is," she said.

Giles took his glasses off and sighed rubbing his eyes as he sat on the coffee table in front of them. Buffy couldn't tell from his expression what he was feeling so she concentrated on wrapping Faith's hands placing them gently back on the couch when she was done.

"What are we going to do?" she asked into the silence making eye contact with Giles who was still yet to say anything.

"Is there anything to do? I mean she was being tortured in prison, she's not there anymore shouldn't that be problem solved?" Willow asked pulling Faith's shirt down so it covered her stomach.

"I guess, Giles?" Buffy asked waiting for his opinion.

Giles took a shuddery breath and put his glasses back on his face running a hand through his hair.

"Buffy I'm afraid without more details I simply cannot say," he said.

"I guess we'll just have to wait for her to wake up," Buffy said putting her face in her hands.

"Buff not to be all only making things worse guy but what's going to happen when she wakes up, I mean she's not going to be all knife happy is she because I for one would like to not relive that nightmare," Xander said absently rubbing at phantom bruises on his neck.

"I don't know, but Angel seemed to not think so, he, he said that Wes said that she wasn't the same, like she was uh fragile," Buffy said and Xander snorted.

"Faith fragile, please," he said looking at her incredulously.

Buffy didn't say anything but she looked down at the girl beside her. Faith's eyes had always been the window to her soul and had a way of betraying exactly what she was feeling and without seeing those Buffy had no idea in what state the other Slayer would be in. Whilst it hadn't been often she had seen Faith without the walls that usually surrounded her like a fortress on those odd occasions she had caught a rare glimpse of the girl behind the mask and she had been very different to the one she displayed for the world to see. Of course after the killing of the deputy Mayor Buffy had refused to see anything that Faith had silently been showing her so after that the walls had come back and had doubled in strength.

"What the hell is she doing here?" Buffy was pulled out of her reverie by Dawn who stood with her arms crossed at the entrance to the living room.

"She's hurt Dawnie, we're helping her out," Willow told her.

"Why would we be doing that?" Dawn asked, the fire behind her eyes blazing as her gaze never wavered from the prone form on the couch.

"We have to she was tortured for years in that prison and a spell was used to take away her Slayer powers," Buffy told her.

"Well excuse me for not wanting to be all caring towards holding your mother hostage and tried to kill your sister types," Dawn said, the anger in her voice radiating through the room.

"She went to jail Dawn, she wanted to do the right thing," Buffy said quietly.

"Yeah well still doesn't forgive what she did. She's not staying here is she?" Dawn asked, "this is my house too you know and I think I should have a say in whether murderers should be allowed to stay here."

"Uh Dawnie hate to interrupt because all with the good points there but if that's your criteria for staying here then I guess I'd have to go and your poker buddy Spike he'd be out as well," Willow said holding up her hands when Dawn turned her stony gaze her way.

"God whatever, just don't expect me to help and make sure she stays out of my way," the teen said stomping out of the room.

"Okay ah drama queens aside I guess it wouldn't be such a bad idea to keep her away from the Potentials for awhile just until we can gauge how she's gonna react once she wakes up so I guess my room and uh Will could you maybe help me, I mean we should probably check to see if she has any uh injuries in harder to reach places," Buffy blushed. Faith wasn't even awake and throwing innuendos her way and she still had a way to make her blush.

"What, oh, uh sure," Willow said her skin taking on a familiar hue to Buffy's.

"You girls will probably need a bit of help with that right," Xander said his earlier fear completely forgotten at the prospect of seeing Faith with less clothes on then she was wearing right now, a glare from Buffy shutting him up, "or not you'll probably be fine."

"Okay so we'll just go and do that," Willow said standing up and putting the contents of the first aid kit back into the box so she could take it upstairs. Buffy stood as well and picked Faith up and held as she had been earlier this time more than aware that she could be aggravating injuries that they had yet to discover.

"Uh Buffy I thought I should probably call Angel and get more details off of him maybe discover more about the origins of whatever it is that was causing this," Giles said as they made their way over to the staircase.

"Good, that's good I probably didn't tell the story very well and he would want to know where Faith got to and that she's safe," Buffy said readjusting her hold on the girl in question before they ascended the stairs, she turned quickly however and nearly dropped the younger Slayer when a voice sounded from the kitchen.

"Who the hell is Faith?"


	5. Chapter 5

Buffy was sure that if she had been watching the scene from afar she would have laughed at her own expression because she was sure she looked like a fish floundering out of water, her mouth opening and shutting but not being able to form words. Eyes wide she looked between Faith still unconscious in her arms and Kennedy standing in the doorway arms folded across her chest a few other Potentials standing behind her.

"Well who can really say what faith is? I mean it's a set of principles sure but is there really a clear definition?" Willow babbled.

"Not what is faith, who is Faith," Kennedy asked her gaze never wavering from the girl in Buffy's arms.

With the prospect of leading these young girls into war Buffy had been distancing herself from them rationalising that it would ease the guilt she knew she would feel when they got hurt if she didn't really know who they were. It was hard not to know Kennedy, the younger girl always seemed to have an opinion about everything and on the few patrols Buffy had taken the SIT's on Kennedy had been the only one brazen enough to question her methods. She knew the brunette wasn't going to give up the defiant look in her eyes never flickered as she moved her gaze from Faith to Buffy and the blonde Slayer knew she would not escape without telling them.

"Faith is a Slayer," she said.

"Another one, man I am so not giving up any more of my floor space for this one," Rhona said crossing her own arms across her chest and mirroring Kennedy's stance.

"Not a Potential, Faith is a Slayer like me," Buffy told them.

"A Slayer! So the whole one girl in all the world crap you've been spurting this whole time has been a bunch of bull," Kennedy said her expression clouding. They all knew Kennedy was jonesing to be the next Slayer called and would do anything to undermine Buffy's authority whenever she could.

"No all of that is true, Buffy died but was resuscitated and because of that a new Slayer was called but then Kendra died so then Faith was called," Willow explained.

"Why didn't you tell us this before?" Kennedy asked.

"Faith wasn't in the equation before," Buffy stated not wanting to reveal anymore about the dark Slayer at that moment than she had to. They didn't know what state she would be in when she was awake and didn't want the Potentials forming opinions based only on what they have heard about her. She caught the look Willow was shooting her, clearly the redheaded witch thought that they should know about Faith's past

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? And what happened to her?" Kennedy asked and Buffy looked to Willow again. While her friend hadn't come out and said it she knew that there had been something going on between the witch and the SIT currently glaring at them suspiciously.

"Ken just let it go for the moment okay I promise when we sort her out everything will be explained but just for the moment trust me on this," Willow said. If it had been anyone but Willow saying that to the young Potential Buffy knew that the brunette would never have let it go but it seemed that their relationship, whatever it was, had a calming effect on the fiery brunette and she nodded her head curtly.

Faith was starting to get heavy in Buffy's arms and she was glad that the Potential had backed down. Smiling gratefully at her friend she made her way up the stairs knowing that Willow was following closely behind. Once they had reached her bedroom she heard Willow close the door quietly behind them as Buffy gently placed Faith on her bed.

"How, uh, how do you want to do this?" Willow asked sitting on the edge of the bed next to Buffy.

"I guess I'll hold her up and you look at her back see if there's any there that we missed," Buffy said. If she was being honest she was nervous about invading the other Slayer's privacy like this. Sure Faith had never been a modest person and Buffy had seen the other Slayer in nothing but her underwear on more than one occasion when they were changing in between training sessions back in the day, but that had always been when the dark haired girl had been in control of her own actions.

She pulled the dark Slayer up so that her upper body was resting against her own and Willow helped her slip the shirt she was wearing up over her head. She hears Willow gasp as the witch inspects the younger Slayer's back and she can't stop herself from smoothing a hand over Faith's hair. She couldn't help but feel like she was betraying her dark counterpart for holding her in such an intimate way without her permission. Whilst Faith had never been explicit about her past Buffy was more than certain that she had been the victim of abuse and she knew if Faith were in her right mind and knew how vulnerable she was in this moment it would be a totally new sort of torture for the Bostonian.

"This is sick," Willow whispered her eyes wide with unshed tears. Buffy didn't want to know what her friend was seeing to make her react in such a way but it seemed like she didn't have a choice in the matter as Willow kept speaking, "they've marked her, carved into her," the redhead whispered reaching for a clean bit of gauze.

"What does it say?" Buffy asked her voice low.

"Slut, whore, waste, murderer," Willow whispered taking a shuddery breath.

Buffy squeezed her eyes shut in disgust and she fought the urge to put her arms around the younger girl and hold her until everything was better.

"We need to find who did this," she ground out as Willow finished taping the edges of the bandage she had put over Faith's wounds.

"We will," Willow said quietly, "I'm all done."

Buffy moved Faith so that she was lying on her side not wanting to aggravate any of the wounds on her back. Taking a steeling breath she moved shaking hands to undo the button on Faith's jeans again being assaulted with feelings of guilt for having to expose Faith in this way. Of course she knew she was only doing this to make sure none of Faith's injuries went untreated but deep down she still fought the churning in her stomach that told her to stop.

There was no mistaking that the younger girl had a beautiful body but as Buffy pulled the denim gently off and revealed scarred and in some places bleeding legs it was hard to look past them to the beauty beneath. They cleaned the wounds on Faith's legs as quickly as possible and Buffy consciously tried to touch Faith as little as possible. Instead of putting the jeans and tank top she had on before they put a pair of sweat pants and larger shirt that Buffy owned and then manoeuvred her so that she was under the covers.

"We should go talk to the others," Willow said quietly breaking the silence that had fallen across the room save Faith's deep breathing. Buffy nodded as she stood and after making sure Faith was tucked in sufficiently followed her redheaded friend out the door.

"What are you going to tell them?" Willow asked.

"The truth," Buffy stated simply going into Slayer mode before entering the living room.

**********************************************************************************************

The blonde Slayer sighed as she walked back up the stairs to check on Faith. Telling the group about Faith's past had been torturous and as she had expected the Potentials had been quick to draw conclusions about the mysterious woman upstairs. They had exploded when Buffy told them about how Faith had killed people willingly and called Buffy irresponsible for letting her stay in the house. These were all things that had already run through Buffy's head when she had first seen the dark Slayer earlier that evening but she had immediately pushed them aside when taking in Faith's condition. After explaining what was going on with her sister in arms and warned the SIT's to stay away from Faith until they could figure out what was going on with her most of them had come around to thinking that they should help the Bostonian.

Dawn was still firmly against the idea and Buffy knew that it would take a lot of coercing before the teen changed her mind. After some coercion from Willow, Kennedy had reluctantly agreed to give the former rogue a chance but it was clear that she wasn't entirely happy with the prospect. Slipping through her bedroom door as quietly as she could it took her eyes a second to adjust to the darkness immediately seeking out the girl she had left in her bed. Her eyes widened when she realised that her covers had been thrown violently across the bed revealing that the brunette was not where she had left her. Glancing quickly at her window she saw that it was still closed so the younger girl couldn't have escaped that way and she had almost raced out into the hallway if it wasn't for a small noise coming from the dark corner of her bedroom.

She didn't know how she had missed it before but as she walked closer to the sound she could make out the Bostonians form scrunched tightly into the corner, head buried in her knees which were pulled tightly to her chest. The younger Slayer was rocking back and forth slightly and shaking her head slowly from side to side as if it would stop whatever was going on. Buffy strained her ears and could make out the other Slayer whimpering 'no' over and over again the words all jumbling together and coming out slightly muffled as they were spoken into the soft fabric of her sweat pants.

Buffy lowered herself slowly so as not to startle the girl in front of her and knelt so that she was far enough away that Faith couldn't hit her if she lashed out but close enough that if she leaned just a little she could touch the dark Slayer. Tentatively as if approaching a wild animal she reached her arm forward and spoke the brunette's name softly, the last syllables dying as contact with the other girl drew a reaction so unexpected from the former rogue in front of her.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I know it's been awhile since I updated I hit a bit of a wall with this story but I got through it and here's a new for all the wonderful reviews. Special thanks to scrawn whose review made me squeal and do a little happy dance. Hope you are enjoying. **

*********************************************************************************************

Buffy was expecting the dark Slayer to throw a punch, to kick out at her violently connecting with her ribs and send her sprawling painfully to the floor. What she didn't expect was for Faith to curl back even further in on herself; letting out a terrified whimper and cross her arms over her head to shield herself from the blow she thought was going to come. Buffy watched in abject horror as the former rogue literally shook in front of her. The Faith who was brazen and cocky she knew how to deal with, they would trade insults that deep down they didn't really mean but would sting nonetheless. The old Faith she could hate for betraying her and abandoning her for everything they fought against. But this Faith, this Faith who cowered before her like the abused child waiting to be hit which, Buffy reasoned, at one point she probably had been, this Faith she did not know how to deal with.

She was reluctant to touch the other Slayer again seeing as it had seemed to make things worse the first time she reached out. She considered just leaving Faith alone and letting her deal with whatever this was on her own. But she couldn't do that, not when the younger girl had come to her for help.

"For thou art Buffy and thou art destined to always do the right thing no matter how uncomfortable and uneasy it makes you feel," she muttered to herself.

As it was she didn't have a chance to do anything to pull Faith out of the state she was currently in for the brunette suddenly looked at her, her eyes staring as though they could see straight through into her soul. Buffy recoiled slightly at the intensity of the younger girl's stare her own eyes searching the Bostonian's face for any signs for what had changed. Her eyes followed as Faith lifted a shaking hand and stroked her fingertips over her cheek not able to stop the shivers that ran down her spine at the softness of the brunette's touch.

"B?" Faith whispered the crease in between her eyebrows deepening as she bought her hand back down to rest in her lap.

"Yeah Faith it's me," she replied noticing the way Faith's hand twitched as if she was stopping herself from reaching out to touch her again.

"No," the brunette shook her head, "No it's not, they-they said you were dead, it's not really you, it's just some trick they're playing. Stop it, stop it now, please just-just stop it," Faith cried lifting her hands up to clutch at her head.

"Faith, hey Faith, it is me, look see you can feel me," Buffy said grabbing the younger girl's hands in her own, "If I wasn't real would you be able to feel me?" she asked holding tight to those trembling hands.

Faith stared at her hands her breathing coming out in short, hard gasps not quite believing that what she had heard was true. Green eyes that shone in the moonlight watched the other girl as she stared at their joined hands slowly tilting her head up to meet the other Slayer's gaze, realisation dawning on the deep brown orbs that stared back at her.

"You-you're not dead," Faith whispered staring at her with what looked to Buffy to be a mix of shock, terror and an intense relief that radiated through the binds of their Slayer bond.

"No I'm not dead. Well I mean I was but Willow bought me back and now I'm very much with the living and the breathing," Buffy smiled softly at her.

"But they-they told me you were dead. They-they told me you were gone," Faith whispered her voice cracking in a way that would have horrified the old Faith.

"Who are they Faith?" Buffy asked, "Who told you that I was dead?"

"No, I-I can't," Faith's voice shook as she pulled her hands violently from the other Slayer's grasp, "I-I can't, they'll, they'll hurt, I-I can't," she said shaking her head.

Buffy could see that the other Slayer was retreating back into the state she had been in so she reached forward betraying every instinct that told her to retreat back from the dangerous girl in the corner and grabbed a hold of her shoulders.

"Faith, her Faith look at me, look at me," she said loudly giving the other girl a little shake to pull her from wherever she was disappearing to, "Whoever they are they are not welcome in my house you hear me, you tell them that they are not welcome here, you tell them that they will have to deal with me if they come anywhere near you."

"They'll-they'll be mad," Faith trembled squeezing her eyes closed.

"Yeah well I can get pretty mad too and while you're in this house I will not let anything happen to you. We are going to figure this out together, okay, we'll figure it out together," Buffy said using her fingers to wipe away the beads of sweat that had formed on the brunette's forehead.

"Together," Faith repeated and her eyes held so much hope in that moment that Buffy knew she had done the right thing.

"Come on you must be hungry we'll go downstairs and get you something to eat," Buffy said rising to her feet and offering her hand to the younger Slayer. She was eager to get something into the Bostonian's stomach because it looked like she hadn't eaten a proper meal in a long time.

"What about your," Faith trailed off but Buffy still knew what she meant. The last time she had seen the Scooby gang had not been a pleasant experience and Buffy could tell she was nervous about facing them.

"It's okay, they know you're here. They're okay with it," Buffy assured her pulling her to her feet.

"W-why?" Faith asked stumbling behind her as she pulled her towards the door.

"Faith, things have changed around here. People have changed. There's a big bad, the biggest of bads that is threatening the Slayer line so now is not the time for people to hold onto grudges. I'll explain it all to you tomorrow, it's too much to take in tonight but just know that everybody down there is going to help you and I'll be be right there, if it gets too much you give me the signal and I'll get you out," Buffy said.

"Babble much B," Faith said and Buffy's heart leapt at the playful response. She would have outwardly laughed if the retort hadn't been missing the usual accompanying smirk and glittering eyes that would have been there in the past.

"Come on," Buffy said taking her by the elbow and leading her out of the room.

The kitchen was empty which in a houseful of what felt like a thousand was a extremely rare occurrence. Buffy didn't know where everybody was but she was grateful that at that moment there was nobody there to crowd Faith. She inwardly hoped that Willow and Giles were explaining to the Potentials about Faith's history and hopefully they would be able to convince them to give Faith a chance.

"Sit here," she said to the dark Slayer pushing her down onto one of the stools that rested behind the kitchen bench.

The silence of the kitchen while she prepared something for Faith to eat only highlighted the obvious change in the normally chatty brunette and Buffy found that she struggled to think of something to say. Faith picked at her fingernails and Buffy fought the need to admonish her like she would if it were Dawn sitting in front of her. The former rogue didn't raise her gaze from her lap as Buffy placed a plate of sandwiches in front of her and flinched when Buffy placed a hand on her arm.

"Eat up, it's rare that there's actually good food left in this place and I know you used to live on that stuff," Buffy said indicating the chocolate and marshmallow spread she had put on the bread.

Faith ate like she hadn't seen food before, which was a trait the old Faith shared, although this time it worried Buffy to see the younger girl eat so fast.

"You might want to slow down or you'll make yourself sick," she commented already making another sandwich.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Faith said making an obvious effort to slow down.

"You don't have to be sorry," Buffy frowned, "I just don't want you to get sick is all."

"Sorry," Faith mumbled again and Buffy frowned again but let it go. Without a word from the other Slayer she put another sandwich on her plate and leaned against the bench and watched her eat.

"Buffy," a voice said from the doorway.

The interruption to the previously silent kitchen startled Faith and in her shock her arm bumped the corner of her plate knocking it to the ground. The following smash startled the brunette even more and she jumped down off the stool the glass from the broken plate embedding itself in her feet. Buffy glared at her sister who stood in the doorway even though rationally she knew Dawn had done nothing wrong.

"What is it Dawn?" she asked grabbing a dustpan and brush from beneath the bench with the intention to clean up the broken plate. She spared a glance at Faith who was leaning against the bench, her head against her chest as she stared intently at the floor.

"Buffy her feet," Dawn said softly.

"What, oh my god Faith," Buffy said dropping the dustpan upon seeing the trickles of blood appearing between the dark Slayer's toes.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean, I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean," Faith mumbled her hands snaking into her hair as she shook her head from side to side.

"I know, it's okay, I know," Buffy said approaching the brunette slowly.

"Buffy?" Dawn said again her shock at seeing Faith this way displayed clearly across her face.

"It's okay Dawn, can you just clean that up," Buffy said keeping her voice soothing as she placed her hand on Faith's shoulder. They two Summer's stared at each other before Dawn relented with a nod reaching for the dustpan that her sister had discarded. She couldn't make a move to clean up the mess though as the brunette Slayer was still standing in amongst the shattered crockery.

"Faith, Faith can you move so I can take a look at your feet," Buffy asked.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," the younger Slayer mumbled under her breath as Buffy pulled her towards the living room.

"It's okay Faith, you're going to be okay."

**A/N: Please review, it gives me the inspiration to keep going. **


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Okay, you guys are so freaking awesome with the reviews, seriously made me blush so thank you so much for reviewing I really appreciate it. And now....onto the story.**

***********************************************************************************************

The Potentials had cleared out by the time Buffy had gotten Faith to the living room and she vaguely wondered to herself where they vanished to considering it wasn't easy to disappear with that many people in the same house. Willow and Giles looked up sharply from whatever murmured conversation they had been having when they noticed the two original Slayers had entered the room. Buffy looked behind her when she came to an abrupt stop the arm that had been holding onto Faith stretched out to it's full length as the dark Slayer stopped moving.

The brunette was obviously apprehensive about seeing the two figures that stood in front of her as she was visibly trembling under their gaze. If the former rogue had been confident enough to raise her head and meet their eyes she would not have seen the look of disdain she expected to be there, instead she would have seen acceptance, compassion and a hint of intrigue which glinted in the eyes of the former Watcher. The silence was broken by the witch whose eyes widened at the deep red that ran in slow trickles from between the brunette's toes.

"What happened to her feet?" Willow asked Buffy.

"There was a small incident with a broken plate," Buffy said pulling Faith gingerly forward and setting her down on the couch.

Dawn followed them in from the kitchen and handed her sister a first aid kit before leaning against the doorframe and folding her arms across her chest, watching them silently. Giles and Willow took up similar stances watching the interaction between the two original Slayers. Buffy had taken some tweezers and disinfectant gauze and gently swivelled Faith so her bare feet were resting in her lap.

Buffy noticed the way the brunette Slayer winced as she pulled the broken pieces of porcelain that had embedded themselves in her foot. When she was done she wrapped Faith's feet in a bandage adding to the many that already adorned the former rogue's battered body.

"All done," she smiled at the Bostonian fighting the urge to brush the dark hair away from the younger Slayer's face which was currently shielding her from the curious glances being thrown their way.

"You didn't have to," Faith said quietly and Buffy had to strain her hearing to understand what she had mumbled.

"It's okay," Buffy said studying the younger Slayer as she picked at her fingernails looking everywhere but back up at her.

"Ah Buffy if I may interrupt I would suggest that we get a start on Faith's uh, predicament so we can then turn all our attention to dealing with the First," Giles said abandoning his post by the door and coming further into the room.

"Right, so what do you suggest? Books? Or maybe Will could work a spell, if you're up to it of course," Buffy said turning to her friend.

"I don't know Buffy, it-it's been awhile and I-I don't want to..." Willow stammered trailing off.

"It's okay, you don't have to...so books," she said turning back to Giles.

"Well first I think we should learn more about these ah, hauntings from Faith," the Englishman said turning to face the dark haired Slayer who flinched at the sound of her name but didn't meet his gaze.

Buffy stared at her Watcher for a moment before nodding her head. She didn't know if it was a Slayer thing but the two of them seemed to have an exceptionally hard time showing any weakness, Faith in particular, so this was going to be like pulling teeth. The fact that Faith was currently being haunted by god knows what evil and had spent the last couple of years being physically and emotionally tortured was likely not to make the damaged Slayer eager to share.

Ignoring the look she was getting from her sister Buffy placed her hand on top of Faith's silently letting her know that she was there for her.

"Just tell us what you can," she said quietly so no one but Faith could hear.

Faith didn't give any indication that she had heard the other Slayer but shifted slightly in her seat so that their thighs were touching. Buffy didn't know if the brunette had moved intentionally so that they were closer but she was happy to offer the comfort that their closeness may offer the troubled Slayer.

"Well I guess anything you can tell us Faith would be beneficial. I know Angel said that magic was used to block your Slayer powers whilst you were incarcerated and I would suggest the guards that ah, tortured you there could perhaps have been under some sort of spell as well, most probably stemming from whoever it is that is behind these hauntings," Giles said setting himself down in the arm chair across from where the Slayers were sitting and getting out a notepad and pen presumably to write down any answers Faith may give him, "So these hauntings, is there ever any warnings before they occur? I mean do you get any of the reactions you would usually from say vampire or demon activity?" Giles asked his pen poised to write.

"No," Faith said quietly shaking her head.

Once it was obvious she was not going to give an answer longer than that Giles continued his questioning. Through simple yes or no answers from the dark Slayer they determined that the figures haunting her were familiar faces, though she wouldn't elaborate as to who they were, she didn't know if other people could see them and she couldn't remember exactly how long it had been after she was incarcerated that these hauntings had begun.

"So we'll be hitting the books then I guess," Xander said who had joined them in amongst the questioning.

"But researching what? I mean no offense but we really don't have all that much to go on," Dawn said.

"We'll start by looking to see if there have been any cases similar to this in the past and then go from there. Willow if you wouldn't mind firing up that insufferable machine, Xander, Dawn, Faith, the old Watcher diaries and Buffy and I will search for any references to such ghostly apparitions within the demon anthologies," Giles said handing around the appropriate books.

"Faith, if you don't feel up to this you don't have to, you've had a long day and you have to start with the healing so maybe sit this one out," Buffy said to the brunette Slayer.

"No, it's my problem, I-I should help," Faith shook her head reaching for the book Giles had placed in front of her.

"Okay a researching we will go," Buffy sighed reaching for her own book.

************************************************************************************************

Buffy could tell she was in that blissful place in-between awareness and unconsciousness where everything sounds like you are underwater and you can't really tell if your eyes are still open. She could tell that Giles was still deep in research mode as every so often a faint murmur would waft through her drowsy haze. Dawn had been sent to bed amidst many choruses of the 'I'm not a child' routine and Xander had taken over Potential watching in the basement which Buffy knew was actually code for watching Kung Fu movies with them on the television Anya had set up down there. She was dimly aware of a warm weight resting heavily against her side, the former rogue finally giving in to the exhaustion from the physical and emotional injuries she was suffering.

She jumped when her friend called her name, opening her eyes blearily to look across the coffee table to her redheaded friend who when finally pausing from researching on the internet and noticed the Slayers on the couch.

"Buffy you should go to bed, we can keep going down here without you," Willow said as Buffy wearily lifted her head from where it had been resting against the back of the couch.

Buffy shook Faith's shoulder softly speaking the other girls name until dark brown eyes met hers groggily. For a moment, when Faith was unguarded Buffy caught a glimpse of a smirk crossing the dark Slayer's face before it was gone and replaced by the look of someone who expected to get hit at any second that had been gracing Faith's features as of late.

"Come on Faith, it's time for bed."


	8. Chapter 8

After leading the younger girl up the stairs and into her bedroom, Buffy left her sitting on the edge of the bed and went to brush her teeth in the bathroom. Faith had been quiet and she had had to physically push her so she sat down, the younger Slayer seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. There was something oddly beautiful about the lost and fragile look that Faith gave her before she left the room. It was a look all too familiar to the blonde and she wondered briefly what it was about her that pulled her in to these 'damaged goods' so to speak. When Angel had come back from hell the attraction she felt for him was instantly overshadowed by this intense desire she had to be the one to pull him back from the brink.

She wondered idly as she brushed her teeth if her desire to 'save' people came from being the Slayer. Her mother had often used it as one of her many reasons as to why she shouldn't have dated the souled vampire, claiming her desire to help often clouded her better judgement. Her desire to save the vampire had been a major part of Faith's downfall in the first place and she had thought a lot about her role in Faith's betrayal. She eventually came to the decision that things would probably have been decidedly different if she had taken the time to really, sincerely offer her help to the brunette Slayer. She had learnt a long time ago that it wasn't healthy to dwell on the past but having the opportunity now to hopefully 'save' Faith would hopefully alleviate some of the guilt that never truly went away as hard as she tried to move on.

Looking in the mirror she frowned at the dark circles that had begun to form beneath her eyes. The stress of being the 'leader' clearly beginning to show on her face but once again this wasn't the time to worry about herself only this time she didn't mind. Maybe because it was Faith, the one girl in all the world who knew how she felt, but there was something about putting all her energy into helping the Bostonian that somehow made the stresses of dealing with the First evil seem bearable.

Walking back to her bedroom she stopped suddenly outside the doorway when she realised she could hear Faith talking inside. Stepping closer she frowned when she realised that it was only Faith's voice she could hear almost as if the younger Slayer was talking to herself. Only she obviously wasn't as her parts of whatever the conversation was she was having were clearly responses to whatever it was being said to her.

Inside the bedroom Faith was cowering on the bed as they stood menacingly in front of her.

"_I bet you're pretty proud of yourself right now, here in her bedroom, but here's the funny thing Faithy. You've been here before; you thought she was your friend but look where that got you last time. Dumped like the piece of trash you are as soon as a better offer came along. What makes you think that this time will be any different? What makes you think that she really wants to help?" _

"T-together, she s-said we would fix it together," Faith said shrinking back onto the bed so she was half lying down as they leaned over her.

"_Together. Faithy there is no together. She left you alone in that jail cell and look what happened. You are alone, there is no one to help you, you are all on your own and nobody is going to save you when he comes."_

Faith shivered as they spoke, the malice in their voices directed at her made her squeeze her eyes shut and try and block them out. Only she never could, they always managed to seep in and invade whatever safe place she tried to go to in her mind, tainting it with their presence.

"I'm not alone, I'm not alone, I'm not alone," was her mantra spoken over and over again until she was sure they were gone, but for how long she didn't know.

Listening in from outside the door Buffy felt her heart break at the hopelessness that filtered in the younger Slayer's tone. Even though her whispered mantra was a hopeful one there was a desperation for it to be true that rang out clearly as it was repeated over and over again. The sudden silence from inside her bedroom startled her and she pulled herself away from the door she had been listening through and opened it slowly so as not to startle the Slayer within.

The aforementioned Slayer was sitting on the edge of the bed, elbows resting on her knees and her head held in her hands. She held herself so tensely that it was obvious to Buffy that she was doing so to stop the trembles that were threatening to travel from her hands through her entire body. Buffy walked over and knelt in front of the younger Slayer her hands hovering over the other girl's knees afraid of what her touch might do.

"Were they here?" she asked softly and Faith nodded slowly not looking up.

"I know it's hard to talk about but what did they say?" she asked.

Faith ignored her question but looked up biting her lip to stop it trembling. Buffy went with her instincts and brushed a stray lock of hair away from the dark Slayer's face not missing the way Faith leaned momentarily into her touch.

"Am I crazy?" Faith asked softly the desperation in her eyes shining as she searched Buffy's face for an answer.

"What! No, Faith you're not crazy," Buffy said cupping the younger girl's face in her palm, "Someone is doing this to you, you're anything but crazy."

"I just want them to leave me alone, please B you have to make them leave me alone, I-I can't do this anymore," Faith's face crumpled as she said this and she lurched forward so she was leaning against Buffy's upper body, her face buried in the blonde's neck and her hands holding tightly to the back of Buffy's shirt.

It took Buffy a moment to get over the shock of having the younger Slayer clinging to her so tightly but her heart broke to hear the gut wrenching sobs escaping from the other Slayer so she wrapped her arms tightly around her pulling her off the bed so they were both on the floor.

"We're going to figure this out Faith I promise, they're going to leave you alone you just have to hang on a bit longer okay," Buffy said rocking Faith slightly to try and stop the younger girls tears.

"I'm just so tired," Faith sobbed her whole body deflating.

"I know, I know, I am as well," Buffy said. And it was true, she was exhausted all the pressures of keeping the Potentials safe as well as trying to figure out how to beat the biggest evil they've ever been up against. Buffy didn't even register that this was the first time she had seen the younger girl cry, she didn't even register that Faith had never let her hold her like this, she didn't even register how rare it was for the younger girl to be the one to instigate the contact, all she wanted to do was help ease the pain she was in.

She somehow managed to half carry half drag the crying girl up onto the bed, Faith curling herself up into a ball as soon as Buffy let her go. Sitting down on the edge of the bed Buffy stroked her hand softly through the long dark tresses that were strewn across the pillow. Faith had her knees pulled tight against her chest and her chest shuddered with every breath she took. Buffy couldn't say anything to her, there was nothing she could say in that moment to make Faith feel any better. All she could do was offer her presence as a means to hopefully comfort the distressed Slayer and hope that whatever comfort she could offer would be enough.

Faith's cries eventually died down but Buffy continued to stroke her soft dark hair. When Faith was silent for awhile Buffy thought she had fallen asleep and stilled her hand in the dark Slayer's hair. She went to move off the bed but Faith's hand on her arm stopped her and she turned to look down at the younger girl.

"Don't go," Faith whimpered not opening her eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere, I'm just going to get changed and then go to bed," Buffy said gently extricating herself from Faith's grip.

She changed quickly into her pyjamas and then slipped under the covers on the other side of the bed. She leaned over to turn off the light as Faith turned slowly in the bed so she was facing the blonde Slayer her eyes shining in the moonlight.

"I just want them to go away," Faith said softly.

"I know you do," Buffy said quietly pulling Faith towards her, "Just get some sleep okay, it'll be better in the morning."

They had never shared a bed before, they had never been in such an intimate position before with Faith's body held tight against her own, the dark Slayer's breath hot against where her face was buried in the crook of her neck. What was strange was that nothing felt wrong, nothing felt uncomfortable something about having Faith in her arms felt so incredibly natural that Buffy didn't even stop to question what that could possibly mean.

"I'm not alone," Faith mumbled her body relaxing and her breathing evening out as she drifted off into a much needed sleep.

"You're not alone," Buffy said softly kissing the top of the younger girl's head and closing her own eyes hoping she could find the release in sleep that her dark counterpart seemed to have found.

**A/N: Please review!!!! Love hearing what you guys think.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Sorry it's been so long between updates. I'm back at uni and I'm determined to be committed and do all my work this semester so I'm hitting the books hard. Hope you enjoy.**

There is that feeling when you haven't gotten a full night's sleep where you feel kind of dirty and nothing but a nice hot shower can make you feel almost human again. That was how Buffy felt now as the morning sunshine filtered in through her curtains and bathed them in a warm glow. She had been awake for several hours now having been woken several times during the night by the nightmares that had plagued the younger Slayer currently burrowed against her side. Obviously exhausted Faith had never really truly awoken by her nightmares; looking around groggily she had clung tightly to the blonde who had whispered soothing words till she drifted off again.

Now the blonde's eyes felt gritty and she wanted nothing more than to scrub her hands against them to somehow alleviate the tiredness that seemed to come from deep within. Only she couldn't move her arms because they were trapped underneath Faith's body who slept on the bright sunshine doing nothing to disturb her. Buffy contemplated disentangling herself gently from around the sleeping girl and go downstairs and join the rest of the household but she was sure that all Faith's fears about abandonment would come rushing back and send her even further away from whatever semblance of safety she had found in the older Slayer's arms.

She took a good look at the girl in her arms, it appeared that some of Faith's Slayer healing was coming back as the cuts and bruises on her face had faded quite a bit from the night before. She assumed that whoever it was that had been casting the spell on Faith had had to have been an occupant or staff member at the prison as her healing was now coming back. A soft knock came from her door and she cringed, looking down to see if it had disturbed the other Slayer. When she was convinced it hadn't she gently rolled Faith off of her, the young Slayer mumbling her protest and then padded over to her bedroom door opening it to reveal Willow on the other side.

"Morning," the redhead said brightly.

"Morning," Buffy replied raising her eyebrow at her friend's overly sunny disposition.

"How did you sleep?" Willow asked craning her neck to try and see not too subtly around Buffy and into her bedroom.

"Not so good. You got a crick in your neck Will? You're stretching like a madwoman," Buffy smirked.

"What? Oh yeah you know bad pillows, very sore neck in the morning. So how did things go last night really?" Willow asked.

Buffy sighed as she looked back into her room. Faith had turned so her back was facing them and Buffy had to strain her ears to make sure the dark Slayer's breathing was still slow and deep before she answered her friend.

"She had nightmares but I don't know if that's normal for her or if it's a side effect of whatever this thing is," Buffy said running a hand through her hair, "She's at the end of her rope though, she's had enough so the sooner we can figure this out the better."

"Agreed. So was it weird, ya know being all snugly with her?" Willow asked.

"Not really," Buffy shrugged taking another look over her shoulder, "I didn't really think all that much about it, she was kind of upset so it was more like how can I make her feel better."

"So Buffy snuggles all 'round," Willow grinned cheekily, "The cure to all your scary haunting problems."

"Shut up," Buffy said sneaking another glance to make sure the other Slayer was still asleep.

"So are you two going to come down for breakfast anytime soon? I had to practically put a hex on the Potentials so they wouldn't eat all of the food Andrew cooked," Willow said.

"Sure, I ah, guess I'll have to wake her. Are they all down there still?" Buffy asked.

"Most of them went out with Anya and Andrew to the grocery store to stock up. Apparently Anya thinks the owner of the store is an ex demon and she thinks that they will be able to strike some sort of deal with him," Willow shrugged, "They'll probably be arrested for speaking the crazy but hey, maybe they will keep Andrew in jail."

"We can only hope," Buffy smiled.

"Okay, well I'll go back down and make sure your food is still there and I guess see you down there," Willow said giving Buffy a quick smile.

Buffy closed her door softly before turning back and walking slowly back over to her bed. Sitting in a similar position that she had last night she realised she had never really seen Faith look as calm or relaxed then she did asleep, the innocence that splayed across her features betrayed her as Buffy knew she had lost most of it a long time ago. It was almost difficult for her to reach over and shake the younger girl's shoulder knowing she would remove her from whatever peaceful place she was currently in.

Faith' s eyes flew open the second time Buffy shook her shoulder and the former rogue had scooted away from her on the bed even before she was even fully aware of her surroundings.

"No, Faith it's okay it's just me Buffy," Buffy said reaching a hand out and grabbing the dark Slayer's arm to prevent her from falling off the other side of the bed.

"B," Faith said looking at the very corporeal hand that held onto her own arm, reassuring her that the girl in front of her was very much real.

"In my all too not to stunning morning glory," Buffy smiled, "Willow said that food is starting to be not of the plenty so she suggested we should get down there before we have to go out and hunt for our breakfast."

"You want to go and slay the cereal?" Faith asked her eyes sparkling.

"Was that a joke? Did you make a joke pre noon because I seem to remember that being a rare occurrence back in the day," Buffy smirked.

"Full of surprises B," Faith said obviously relaxing into the playful banter.

"You're looking better this morning," Buffy said indicating the nearly faded bruises and cuts.

Mentioning her injuries seemed to put a dampener on whatever calm had settled over the brunette and her shoulders immediately tensed and her eyes fell to her lap. Buffy inwardly cursed herself for her mistake and rubbed a thumb gently over the soft skin of Faith's arm which she still had a grip on.

"Breakfast," she said again hoping the mention of food would spark a reaction from the Slayer known for her bottomless pit of a stomach.

Faith allowed herself to be led down the stairs her head still bowed but her hand gripping Buffy's hand just as tight as the blonde had her own. Willow smiled a greeting at the pair as they came in offering them a friendly "Good morning" before going back to heating up two plates piled high with bacon and eggs. Gently pushing Faith down on one of the bar stools Buffy went to go and give the witch a hand when she felt the hand held within her own grasp hers impossibly tighter as she tried to move away. Throwing a glance to Faith she could see the brunette Slayer was staring intently at the benchtop not acknowledging the way she was clinging to Buffy like a lifeline. The two Slayers seemed to be having a conversation without words their eyes reflecting in one another, Faith's betraying her desperate need for security and Buffy's radiating a calm she hoped she could transpire to the former rogue.

Jumping when a voice spoke from the doorway the three in the room looked over in surprise at the person who had interrupted them. Kennedy stood with her hands on her hips looking over the scene in the kitchen with a critical eye.

"She doesn't look so dangerous," the brazen young woman stated coming further into the room and giving Faith a once over, noting the white knuckled grasp the former rogue had on her blonde counterparts hand.

If Buffy's eyes had been lasers the cocky brunette would have been burnt to smithereens by now, the murderous look being shot her way doing nothing to deter the Potentials confidence.

"I'm Kennedy," she said sticking her hand out for the dark Slayer to shake.

Faith gave Buffy a desperate look before sticking a shaking hand out to the Potential who shook her hand vehemently.

"So any ghost men in the room right now?" Kennedy asked sitting herself down on the stool next to the dark Slayer and grabbing a piece of bacon off the plate Willow had just placed in front Faith.

Willow joined Buffy this time in shooting daggers at the young Potential who stared at Faith ignoring the looks being shot her way. Faith visibly flinched at the question her breathing audibly quickening as her eyes darted from the brunette sitting next to her and the other two occupants of the room.

"N-no," she said shrinking away from Kennedy and moving so her shoulder was resting against Buffy where the blonde Slayer stood next to her.

"Kennedy," Buffy said her voice relaying the anger she was obviously feeling, "I think you should go."

"I don't have to, I have every right to be here and see our new house guest. If she's crazy I think we should get a say if she stays here or not," Kennedy said.

"Kennedy," Willow warned shooting a glance Buffy's way where the blonde Slayer was visibly restraining herself from throwing herself at the arrogant Potential, "I think you should leave," the witch said keeping her voice level, her eyes showing the younger girl that she meant it.

Shrugging her shoulders the Potential got off the barstool and gave Faith another look over before following Willow's instructions, obviously valuing whatever it was that their relationship currently was.

"Sorry," Willow said softly watching as Buffy pulled her hand from Faith's a placed a comforting arm around the younger girl's shoulders. She could feel Faith trembling under her arm as she leaned into the blonde girl's touch.

"I-I'm not crazy am I?" Faith said her voice wavering as she looked up at the blonde Slayer, "B?"

**A/N: Reviews please.**


	10. Chapter 10

"Wha-Faith, no of course you're not crazy. Someone has been messing with you for a long time, it's only natural for you to start questioning yourself but I promise you there is nothing wrong with you, you are fine," Buffy said tightening the arm she had around the younger girl's shoulders so that Faith was pulled uncomfortably close to her side.

"Well I wouldn't say fine," Willow mused, the faraway look in her eye as she got cutlery out of the drawer making it clear that she hadn't meant to voice that thought out loud. The sharp look she got from the blonde Slayer as she pushed the utensils across the bench towards them told her that she had and her face reddened, "Of course I didn't mean you Faith, you're fine, you're more than fine, you are awesome with just a little smidgen of cool."

"It's okay Red," Faith mumbled the corners of her mouth turned up in a smile.

Buffy had to hand it to her friend, by not covering her slip up well and turning to her patented Willow babble she had managed to drag a semblance of a smile from the younger Slayer. Giving Faith's arm a quick squeeze she removed it and pushed a plate of food towards the other girl, indicating with her head for the other girl to eat. She offered Dawn a quick smile when she entered the kitchen, throwing a quick glance over to Faith to see if the other Slayer had noticed the teenager's presence. If she had the dark Slayer didn't give any indication concentrating solely on getting the food from her plate into her mouth.

"Buffy," Dawn said and Buffy didn't miss the way Faith flinched next to her, "Principal Wood is on the phone, he said he needed you to come in for a few hours, something about a few kids really needing to see you."

Faith looked up sharply at this, her eyes betraying the fear she was obviously trying to shield from Willow and Dawn. Buffy discretely put her hand on Faith's knee under the bench, hating the way she could feel the other girl trembling beneath her touch.

"Tell him I'll be there in about an hour," Buffy said turning back to her meal, "Wait. Dawn why aren't you there?"

"I thought with the First being all I'm going to get you," Dawn said making a face and claws out of her hands, "School just doesn't rate as highly as saving the world."

"You're coming in with me. You will keep going to school, the First won't make his move during school hours, I've been told evil likes to sleep in," Buffy said shooing Dawn out of the kitchen.

"It'll be okay," she said turning to Faith, "You can come with me."

**********************************************************************************************

"Do you want a book or magazine to read?" Buffy asked Faith who was sitting in a chair in the corner of the cubicle.

"I'm okay B, you don't have to babysit me or nothin'," Faith said, the brief flash of fear at being left alone contradicting the words coming from her lips.

"Thought you might like to see the new school," Buffy shrugged handing Faith a pile of magazines she had pulled from her desk drawer, "The kids are pretty cool, most of them just want someone to talk to who isn't all grey and wrinkly."

"It's a cool gig B," Faith nodded moving her chair closer to her blonde counterparts when a student squealed with laughter out in the hall.

"The new principal is different to, you'd like him, he's all dark and mysterious, oh and he's the son of a Slayer, did you know Slayer's could have kids? I just kind of thought it didn't really come with the territory but after meeting Robin, well I guess it just kinda makes you think," Buffy said.

"Can't say I ever really thought about it. Not really parent material ya know," Faith mumbled casting her eyes downward.

"Faith," Buffy said softly reaching out to take the other Slayer's hand.

"It's alright B, it is what it is ya know," Faith said.

"Look, I know I've never been someone you thought you could confide in, but I want it to be different this time, a-and I think they are, and you can trust me, t-talk to me, and I really mean it this time. I want to be someone that you feel safe with," Buffy finished quietly.

"You are the only one B," Faith said softly.

Buffy's reply was cut off by a dark haired boy knocking on the cubicle wall and peeking in nervously.

"Miss Summers?" he asked glancing between the two women.

"Uh yeah hi, Ethan isn't it, come in," Buffy said warmly pointing to the seat opposite her own. The teen had a seat and looked nervously over into the corner where Faith was sitting, trying hard to disappear into the wall behind her.

"Ethan this is Faith, she is a uh colleague of mine, she'll be sitting in with us for today if that's okay with you," Buffy said and the teen nodded.

The morning was fairly uneventful, the handful of students that came in to speak to the blonde didn't seem to worry about the brunette woman in the corner of the room who as the morning proceeded had managed to subtly move her chair so her elbow was nearly touching her counterparts.

"Oh, crap," Buffy said as she read her email.

"What is it B?" Faith asked around a mouthful of sandwich.

"One of the teacher's has called in sick and they need me to cover her study hall," Buffy said.

"Oh," Faith said the sandwich now completely forgotten.

"It's okay, I'll go and talk to Principal Wood maybe I can get out of it," Buffy said.

"No," Faith said loudly, "No it's o-okay I'll be alright."

Buffy could see that the younger girl was determined to stick by her word, the determinedness in her eyes reminding the older Slayer of a Faith from earlier years.

"Okay, but just stay here while I'm gone, you can use the computer or something, just don't go wondering the halls," Buffy said standing and resting a hand on Faith's shoulder.

"Don't worry B I'll be five by five."

Buffy had only been gone for ten minutes before the bravado the younger girl had put up had disappeared completely. Her fingers drummed nervously on the mouse as she clicked aimlessly around Buffy's computer trying to find anything that would keep her mind from wandering and reminding her that she was completely alone.

"_You're not alone Faithy, we're right here."_

The terrified yelp that escaped was covered by the sound of the files falling from Buffy's desk as her hands swung out wildly trying to hit at whoever had startled her.

"Leave me alone," she mumbled shaking her head as they circled around her, the putrid smell of death that she knew couldn't possibly be there following them around the desk.

"_Oh yes we are here. Do you know where you are Faithy? You're on the mouth of hell. Can you feel it? The darkness. It's where you belong you know. Not here, not with her. She's too good for your darkness Faithy, you're only going to bring her down. You don't want that do you? You don't want to be the reason she fails."_

"No," she said shrinking back in the chair as they leaned over her.

"_You don't belong up here. You belong with us in the darkness, come with us Faithy, come back to where you belong."_

"Get away from me," she ground out with more strength than she was feeling.

"_When the time is right, you will learn your place. You don't deserve her help, you are pathetic, worthless, you belong with us and the sooner you accept that the sooner everything will get better. Remember that Faithy, you belong in the darkness."_

When Buffy returned thirty minutes later her senses were immediately on alert when she noticed her files scattered all over the floor and the brunette Slayer that was noticeably missing from where she had left her. Kneeling to pick up her files quickly she nearly fell backwards on the floor when she realised there was someone under the desk. Reaching up to the top of the desk she grabbed a letter opener and peered slowly around the drawers that obscured her vision. The letter opener clattered to the floor when she saw the missing girl huddled under the desk her knees pulled tightly to her chest.

"Faith."

The younger girl was trembling, her hands gripping tightly to her hair as she shook her head over and over trying to shake all they had said from her mind. Buffy crawled slowly under the desk pulling the other girl tightly against her. Faith struggled at first, trying to pull away from the other girls embrace, but her Slayer strength hadn't fully returned so she was no match for the older Slayer. It was a tight fit under the desk but as Faith relaxed in her arms Buffy managed to manoeuvre them so the younger girl was practically sitting in her lap.

"What are you doing under the desk?" Buffy asked rubbing her hand up and down Faith's back.

"T-the darkness w-where I belong, in the darkness," Faith mumbled her whole body shuddering, "I'm bad, evil, in the darkness."


	11. Chapter 11

When they got home Buffy helped Faith upstairs and into their bedroom, the younger Slayer still obviously shaken by the events of the morning. Principal Wood had agreed to let her take the rest of the day off as she had hastily explained to him what was going on. Faith had clung to her the whole way home, holding her hand in an almost bone crushing grasp.

"Do you want something to eat?" Buffy asked softly, her hands holding Faith's in the younger girl's lap as the brunette sat on the edge of Buffy's bed the blonde Slayer kneeling in front of her. Faith shook her head her eyes on the floor and Buffy wrangled one of her hands from Faith's grasp and used it to lift the younger girl's chin so they were making eye contact. The depth of pain she could see swirling in the former rogue's dark brown eyes took her aback and her heart broke for the broken girl sitting in front of her.

Faith had been quiet on the way home but Buffy had caught a few mumbled words here and there and Faith's insistence that she was bad and evil, things that the brunette had been told her entire life made Buffy want to go back and punish everyone who had ever looked down on her dark counterpart. She would have to include herself on that list she mused as she brushed some hair away from Faith's forehead. There had been a time where she herself had found it easier to brush Faith off as evil rather than to look behind the facade and realise that the younger Slayer had literally been falling apart on the inside, looking and waiting for anyone to save her.

"I-I didn't mean to, I-I didn't know, I-I didn't mean to," Faith was mumbling and Buffy was pulled from her reverie when she felt hot tears fall onto her hand which was still cupping the brunette's cheek.

"Faith?" Buffy asked.

"H-he came out of nowhere I-I didn't know," Faith said her lower lip trembling.

"Who came out of nowhere?" Buffy asked confused.

"A-and he won't leave m-me alone, and the other t-the Boss made me d-do it, I-I didn't wanna, B you gotta believe me, I didn't w-wanna do it," Faith said her hands grasping onto Buffy's forearms.

"Oh Faith," Buffy said finally cottoning on to what the younger girl was talking about.

"And now, B t-they won't leave me alone," Faith continued shaking her head to try and stop the tears that were running freely down her face.

"Professor Wirth and Alan Finch, they are the ones who have been coming to you?" Buffy asked.

Faith nodded but hearing those names spoken out loud for the first time in years seemed to be too much for the former rogue. Her face crumpled before she ripped her hands from Buffy's and buried her face in her hands her whole body seeming to fold in on itself as she broke down. Buffy's shock at finding out who 'they' had been stopped her from reacting to her counterpart's tears and she found her mind ticking over to what that could mean. They were dealing with the first evil who could be any dead person it wanted, it would only make sense for it to appear to Faith as the two people she had been responsible for ending their lives. What a better way to break a Slayer than to torture her with the faces of the two people who would forever be branded in her mind. Why hadn't they thought of it before? It was so obvious; of course it would be the First who was trying to eradicate the Slayer line who would be tormenting the former rogue.

Faith's anguished cries eventually pulled the blonde from her thoughts and a flash of guilt crossed her face for getting lost in her thoughts whilst her dark counterpart was so obviously hurting. By this time the brunette was nearly hysterical and the gasping sounds as she struggled to get air into her lungs is what finally sprung the blonde Slayer into action.

Standing she sat on the bed next to Faith and pulled the younger girl over so she was sitting on her lap. Pulling her tight against her so her back was flush against Buffy's chest the blonde Slayer slowed and over exaggerated her breathing.

"Faith you have to calm down or you're going to make yourself sick. Just breathe with me okay, breathe with me," Buffy said as the brunette Slayer struggled for air her head whipping around to try and see Buffy, "Don't think of anything else just concentrate on your breathing, you're okay just breathe with me."

Faith's body shuddered as she strained to get her breathing under control her hands held firmly in Buffy's as the blonde Slayer breathed with her the sound of their breathing the only noise in the otherwise silent room. Finally Faith's breathing came back under control and the brunette Slayer relaxed against Buffy's body her head falling back onto the blonde Slayer's shoulder obviously exhausted.

"I know you never meant to do it," Buffy said quietly, "I think we all knew," she continued sliding them up the bed so that her back was resting against the headboard Faith still sitting in her lap.

"You 'member that night where we did the exchange in the cafeteria?" she asked and Faith nodded, "I could tell then, you were so torn and I tried to pass it off as you wanting to come back for that precious knife but I think I knew deep down that it was more than that, you wanted to come back to us, to me."

"S'not your fault B, I was fucked up, everything was so fucked up," Faith sighed her head falling back onto Buffy's shoulder.

"After all of this is over, I-I think you should stay. I don't want you going back there," Buffy said feeling the way Faith tensed when she mentioned the prison.

"Stay with you?" Faith asked quietly.

"Yeah, you won't be doing yourself or anyone else any favours being in there, and y-you belong here," Buffy said. Faith was quiet, whether she was contemplating what Buffy had just said or if she had reached a decision Buffy didn't know but she smiled when she felt the brunette Slayer relax back against her.

"Tell me what happened while I've been gone," Faith said.

"Oh it's a fascinating tale. I started college and before you laugh I was totally academic for awhile I even beat Will in an assignment, and I'm not lying you can ask her. Well turns out there was this gigantic secret government operation being run underneath the campus and they made this sort of demon human hybrid called Adam who totally kicked my ass but then we went total Harry Potter on his ass and made me into this sort of super Slayer and I took him down. Then this hell God came to town, total bitch but she had really nice clothes and she was after Dawn because she's the key which I already told you about and well the huge battle with her sent me six feet below again. Oh and this one is a real kicker, really you won't believe it but Willow was a big bad, see these super nerds tried to take me down, Andrew downstairs he was one of them, long story, but after Tara died Will channelled all sorts of dark magicks and let's just say you wouldn't have been able to call her Red for awhile there, got all kinds of bad but Xander talked her down before she could end the world and now the First evil is after the Slayer line so all in all not much has changed in good old Sunnydale," Buffy finished taking a deep breath.

When the dark Slayer didn't reply Buffy tried to turn her head to get a glimpse of the younger girl but the way they were sitting prevented her from getting a look at her face. She smiled to herself when she realised that Faith's breathing was slow and her head was heavy as it rested back against her shoulder. She supposed it made sense the day had been emotionally draining for the younger Slayer, although Buffy figured the past couple of years had been emotionally draining and her dark counterpart had probably never felt safe enough to ever properly rest. She looked up as the door to her bedroom opened slowly and Willow's head peeked in, seeing that no one was indecently exposed the witch came fully into the room.

"I saw the Jeep and I knew you must be home," Willow said quietly.

"There was a bit of an incident at school so I thought I should bring Faith home," Buffy replied.

"What happened?" Willow asked.

"They appeared to her again, said some pretty horrible stuff," Buffy said unconsciously tightening her arms around Faith, "But here's the thing she told me that the ones who have been haunting her are Alan Finch and Professor Wirth so I was thinking."

"That that sounds an awful lot like some big baddie that can be any dead person it wants," Willow finished.

"Exactly. So now we will have to explain to her about the First and hopefully help her understand that they are not real that it's just some uber bad messing with her head," Buffy said.

"But for what purpose? I mean sure he's been messing with all of us, but why would he put so much time into torturing Faith? And not just with the Casper impressions only without the friendly part, he's made all those guards do horrible things to her, what could that achieve?"

"I don't know," Buffy sighed bringing a hand up and running it tenderly over Faith's cheek, "I mean technically the Slayer line runs through her, maybe he wants her as weak as he could get."

"Maybe," Willow mused, "So, I've noticed that the two of you are a lot less stabby these days," the redheaded witch said taking in their current position.

"I don't know what it is, seeing her when she first arrived just sparked this feeling inside of me and it's like I get this warmth from being near her that I never had before. It might be the Slayer connection thing Giles was always talking about, but I just feel like it's up to me to take care of her because n-no really has before," Buffy finished quietly.

"Yes, must be that pesky Slayer connection, couldn't have anything to do with old feelings coming back," Willow smirked.

"Old feelings, Will in case you don't remember last time she was here it ended up with her sleeping with my boyfriend and me threatening to kill her, not to mention the time before that when she killed a man, went over to the dark side where I eventually put her in a coma for eight months. I'd hardly call that an attack of the warm fuzzies," Buffy said incredulously.

"Uh huh, how are things in Egypt this time of year? I hear they have an amazing river there."

"Will what are you going on about?" Buffy asked her forehead screwed up in confusion.

"You'll figure it out eventually," the redhead said happily, "Are you going to stay up here all afternoon because a few of the girls are starting to get antsy I thought maybe you could take them few some drills or something."

"I-I think I'm okay here for awhile, get Kennedy to take them through some drills and then I'll take them out Slaying tonight," Buffy said.

"Okay. Ya know Buff Faith sure does look cute all snuggled up on you like that," Willow said her eyes twinkling as she left the room.

To say Buffy was confused would be an understatement. She couldn't see the younger Slayer's face with how they sat but she had to admit to herself that it didn't feel bad to have the brunette pulled tightly against her chest and to feel the way Faith's body hummed against hers when the dark Slayer made contented noises as she slept. If she was being honest with herself she had never held anyone quite like this before, she had never wanted to hold anyone like this before. Angel had held her once and in his arms she had felt safe. With Riley she had subconsciously never felt safe as she knew that out of the two of them she was the one who did the protecting. Yet here with Faith knowing that she was the one giving the younger girl strength and comfort it gave her a warm feeling in the pit of her stomach that was all too much like.

"No," she said into her bedroom, "No it's not like that."

But it could be, a little voice teased in the back of her head. No this was the girl she had once referred to as her bestest new little sister. This was all that was, those feelings of protectiveness at seeing Faith in distress were all about Slaying sisterly bonds. They had nothing to do with the way her heart clenched as Faith moved on her lap so she was curled up in a ball on top of her, or the way that she smiled involuntarily as the brunette let out a contented sigh snuggling in under Buffy's chin.

"No," she said her lips finding their way to the top of the slumbering girl's head of their own accord, "totally not like that."

************************************************************************************************

When Buffy took the Potential Slayers out to patrol later that night Faith was left alone in the house with Dawn, Willow and Giles. Whilst the three held no grudge against the former rogue Faith still sought refuge in the blonde Slayer's bedroom somehow seeking the blonde's presence even when she wasn't there. They had spent the rest of the evening explaining to her what the First evil was and what he could do and she had assured them that she now understood that they weren't real. Only she hadn't really believed the words that were coming from her own mouth. They would be angry if they thought she didn't believe they were real. It would be worse for her if they thought that's what she had been saying. But that look in Buffy's eyes and the way the blonde had involuntarily reached for her hand when Faith could feel herself getting upset made her want to believe that they weren't real.

When she woke up from her nap she had been safely tucked away in the blonde Slayer's arms. To Faith it had felt like home. Never in her entire life had she felt so warm, so safe, so unlike the unworthy scum she knew she really was. But with Buffy, sometimes it felt like maybe she wasn't like that. Buffy had a way of making her feel protected, like they couldn't get her when Buffy was near. And here surrounded by the blonde's things, by her smell Faith felt safer then she had done in the living room with three other people, as if Buffy's possessions could protect her from her nightmares simply because they belonged to the Californian.

She was tired, no she was exhausted the stress of their announced visits kept her on edge all the time. Lying on Buffy's bed Faith grabbed Mr. Gordo and held him tight to her chest pretending that it was the Slayer herself that she could feel close to her heart. She was determined to stay awake until her blonde counterpart came home but surrounded by Buffy's scent Faith felt herself relaxing and her eyes drooped until she could no longer keep them open and she drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

She was woken later not knowing how long had passed by the soft voice that she longed to hear. Opening her eyes groggily she smiled at the blonde Slayer who stood next to the bed smiling softly down at her. She frowned, confused for a moment when she realised the Slayer was dressed in different clothes from when she left for patrol but brushed it off assuming the blonde had simply ruined her outfit whilst slaying which wasn't a rare occurrence.

"_Faithy I want to show you something_."

"What is it B?" Faith asked sitting up on the bed and rubbing her eyes.

"_It's downstairs, come on it's exciting._"

"Exciting? What do you mean? What's going on?" Faith asked frowning.

"_Come on Faithy I want it to be a surprise."_

"B you know how I feel about surprises," Faith said.

"_You hate them because you don't like not being in control, but come on Faithy it's me, don't you trust me?"_

"You know I do," Faith said softly.

"_Well come on I want to show it to you."_

Faith nodded and followed the blonde from the room and down the stairs, ignoring Willow who called her name as she passed the living room and stopped in front of the door.

"_Go on, it's outside. I can't wait for you to see it you're gonna die."_

Faith smirked at the excited smile on the blonde Slayer's face and shook her head before opening the front door and walking out onto the porch.

"I don't see it B," she said looking around into the darkness.

"_Look closer silly, it's not a good surprise unless you have to work for it just a little."_

Faith stepped off the porch and walked down the path keeping her eyes peeled for whatever it was the blonde was talking about. Looking back at the blonde who stood on the porch smiling at her she was surprised when she bumped into what felt like a wall of concrete and found herself sprawled on the ground. Looking up her eyes widened when she saw the most hideous vampire she had ever seen. The creature growled as it pulled her up by her collar and she shrunk back in it's grasp as she came face to face with it's dripping fangs. This was not like any vampire she had ever seen, it's face had been distorted by age and it's grey skin looked stretched over bony skin.

"B, help me," she gasped trying to twist in the vampires arms to face the blonde.

"_Don't you like your surprise Faithy?"_

Faith's eyes widened in pain as the vampire sunk it's fangs into her neck. She had been bitten by a vampire before but this was different. The vampire wasn't sucking her blood it felt more like his fangs were injecting something into her blood stream. When he was done the vampire dropped her to the ground and she fell like a sack of bricks hitting the ground hard and staying there. Whatever had been on the creature's fangs left her unable to move and she felt an unbelievable cold spreading from the puncture wound on her neck. Lying there shivering on the ground Buffy knelt down in front of her and whispered in her ear.

"_Surprise."_

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed that. Please review it feeds my muse.**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Okay I know it's been ages so don't flame me because I'm finally updating. Hope you enjoy this next chapter.**

Willow was the one who found her, worried when she hadn't come back in from outside. When she spotted the prone Slayer on the ground she called for Giles not even bothering to make sure he had heard her before racing to kneel next to Faith. The dark Slayer's body was shaking and a thin sheen of sweat coated her face and neck, Willow's eyes widened when she noticed the bite marks on her neck. The wound was red and raised and the witch hastily pressed her hands to it to staunch the flow of blood that was flowing from the wound.

"Willow, goodness what happened?" Giles asked kneeling down next to the witch.

"Vampire," Willow said indicating the neck wound she was holding, "but I'm thinking it was no normal vamp because well there's whole body shivers involved."

"Let's get her inside in case whoever it was comes back," Giles said scooping Faith up in his arms and hurriedly taking her inside, Willow's hand still firmly pressed against the brunette's neck.

Dawn greeted them in the living room with the first aid kit shrugging off their surprised looks.

"Willow's tone sounded more like a oh my god someone's bleeding to death than a I've just bought myself a shiny new crystal," she said, "what happened to her?" she asked as Giles gently put the unconscious Slayer down on the living room couch looking very much like when she had first returned.

"Normal vamp bites don't usually end with fevers do they?" Willow asked her free hand resting on Faith's forehead.

"Not usually no," Giles said a worried frown crossing his features as he wiped the bite wound with antiseptic.

They worked in silence for a couple of minutes, Giles cleaning and dressing the wound whilst Willow used a damp cloth Dawn had retrieved from the kitchen to try and cool Faith's face and neck.

"She hasn't actually lost all that much blood which is a relief but the fever is some cause for concern," Giles said as Faith groaned.

"You don't think it could be unrelated?" Dawn asked from where she was perched on the arm of the couch.

"It would be an unfortunate coincidence if it weren't," Giles reasoned.

"What can we do?" Willow asked.

"What we always do I suppose. Willow if you wouldn't mind using your computer to research any vampires that do more than simply bite their victims and Dawn and I will use my books," Giles replied.

"What about Faith?" Dawn asked.

"Well her heartbeat is steady and she is breathing fine so we will have to monitor her, make sure her fever doesn't get any worse and perhaps get in contact with Buffy and bring her back to the house with the girls if this thing is out there I'd rather we know what it was before they have to confront it," Giles said.

"Buffy should have her cell on her so I'll call her," Dawn said hopping off the couch and heading towards the kitchen.

"Giles should we be worried about this?" Willow asked when Dawn had left the room.

"If I said I wasn't concerned it would be a lie," Giles said looking down at Faith's shivering body.

"She's not going to turn is she? I mean should we be getting with the beheading which I'm not for because I'm actually starting to like Faith but I'm thinking Slayer Vampire is probably gonna cause all sorts of badness," Willow asked nervously.

"Well she's not dead so I would say not but not knowing what bit her and what effects that is going to have is what worries me," Giles said.

"Buffy's on her way," Dawn said coming back into the room, "Okay point me at the books and call me Watcher junior."

*********************************************************************************************

When Buffy burst through the front door ten minutes later with Potentials in tow they still hadn't made any headway with the research. The frantic blonde Slayer ignored their greetings and rushed to kneel next to her counterpart on the couch taking in her pale and sweaty brow before turning to face her Watcher.

"What happened?" she asked as the Potentials crowded round the doorway.

"She came downstairs and went outside, I called out to her but she didn't reply. I got worried when she didn't come back in so I went out to see what she was doing and found her pretty much looking like that except she also had a bleeding neck wound," Willow said hurriedly.

"Vampire?" Buffy asked.

"We think so although we are yet to ascertain why the bite would have this effect on her," Giles said looking up from his book.

"Is she going to be okay?" one of the Potentials piped up from where they were all looking on apprehensively.

"Of course, Faith is indestructible it would take much more than a vampire bite to bring her down," Willow laughed nervously flicking a glance to the prone Slayer.

"Why don't you guys head on down to the basement and hang with Andrew," Buffy said earning her groans from the Potentials, "Now none of that I think he's getting his Star Trek on which gets him all kinds of excited and wow that sentence ended up way more dirty that I had intended," she flushed as the Potentials headed towards the basement amidst protesting grumbles.

Faith's groan pulled her attention back to the couch and the blonde Slayer grabbed hold of the other girl's hand and gave it a squeeze.

"Faith, Faith can you hear me? Faith it's me B, can you open your eyes for me?" she said and was rewarded when the brunette dragged her eyes open.

"B?" she rasped.

"Yeah it's me," Buffy replied.

"No, don't, get, get away from me," Faith whimpered struggling to sit up on the couch pulling her hand from Buffy's grasp.

"Faith what's the matter it's me Buffy," Buffy asked confused at the pure terror shining through Faith's eyes.

"Y-you did, g-get away from me," Faith managed to get up from the couch and began to back away from Buffy and towards where Willow was sitting.

"Faith, I'm not going to hurt you," Buffy said edging towards the quickly retreating Slayer.

"No, no, no stay away," Faith whimpered continuing to back away only to trip and end up sprawled on Willow's lap who elicited a surprised squeal.

"Faith what's wrong? What did I do?" Buffy asked as Willow held the struggling Slayer still. Under normal circumstances the witch would have been no match for the brunette but her panic and vampire bite had seriously drained her strength.

"I-I trusted you B," Faith said sounding completely heartbroken and Buffy stopped trying to get any closer, "You said I would be s-safe b-but you lead me right to it."

"Right to what Faith? What was it that bit you?" Giles asked hoping they could get anything that would help them.

"Was a vampire, like I never seen before, it it bit me, poisoned" Faith panted beads of sweat rolling down into her eyes.

"Faith it wasn't Buffy she only just got back from patrol ten minutes ago," Willow said.

"No, s-she was B, her face, voice it was B," Faith gasped grabbing at her stomach.

"Faith do you remember everything we told you before I left for patrol, about the First?" Buffy asked edging closer to the brunette who was leaning increasingly heavier against the witch she was sitting on.

"Y-you said dead people, it can only be dead people, B's not dead," Faith groaned.

"But I was, I've died twice Faith remember, the First it can take my shape, it wasn't me. You have to believe that I would never do anything to hurt you," Buffy said kneeling down next to where Faith and Willow were sitting.

"Wasn't you," Faith repeated, "wasn't B," she said as her eyes rolled back in her head and her entire body slumped back against Willow.

"Giles we need to figure this out now," Buffy said turning to her Watcher once she was sure Faith was breathing, "You need to tell me what did this so I can go out and make with the head chopping."

"She said poison right, I mean I wasn't the only one who heard poison," Dawn said looking around the room.

"She did mention poison," Giles said leaning down to check Faith's pulse.

"Well that's good then that must narrow it down a lot. Although don't tell Spike and Angel that vampires can have poison fangs or they're going to get all kinds of jealous," Dawn smirked.

"It's not enough that the First has to torment her day and night he now sends his buddies to poison her," Buffy sighed.

"She'll be alright, we will figure this out," Giles said straightening up and placing a hand on both his Slayer's shoulders, "we always do."

"Right okay. Dawn get Kennedy, Vi and Rhona from downstairs they can help with the research. Giles book me because I'm feeling the need to hit something and I'm less likely to get with the punching if I'm helping," Buffy said standing as well, her Slayer mask well in place.

"Uh Buff think you can help me out. Starting to lose all sorts of feeling in my legs," Willow said.

"What? Oh sorry yeah Will," Buffy said apologetically gently taking Faith in her arms and placing her back on the couch.

"What's happening to you huh?" she asked softly stroking back the hair that had fallen across the younger Slayer's face. She grabbed a damp washcloth from the coffee table and wiped Faith's face and neck, the brunette's cheeks were flushed from the fever that was coursing through her body. The cloth caught on the edge of the bandage that was on Faith's neck and Buffy peeled it back slowly to take a look at the wound.

"Oh god, Giles," she said whipping around to face her Watcher, "we have to do something about this."

The older man came to have a look and his eyes widened when he saw the wound. The tissue around the edge of the puncture wounds had blackened; looking almost like it had been burnt. The veins that surrounded the wound were black and spreading like a spider's web inching their way out from the bite mark.

"The venom is making its way through her system," Giles said softly lightly fingering the wound.

"Why? What's it going to do to her?" Buffy asked hurriedly.

"I don't know, until we can figure out what it was that bit her we're in the dark," Giles sighed rubbing his forehead.

"Well let's step into the light, turn on the full beams, light a fire, whatever, let's just get out of the dark," Buffy said crossing her arms across her chest, "I am sick of this, the First wants to mess with my people well I'm going to mess with his right back. I'm going out and I'm bringing us back a new house guest, only short term so don't worry about finding bed space, we're getting answers," she said sparing a last glance at Faith before stalking towards the door and slamming it behind her.

"You couldn't have stopped her even if you tried," Willow said placing a hand on Giles' shoulder.

"Oh I am more than aware of that," Giles said looking worriedly at the door and then turning his concerned gaze to his other Slayer.

"She still respects your judgement and all just didn't want you to waste your breath trying to persuade her not to go," Dawn piped up.

"Thank you Dawn, that is most reassuring," Giles said sarcastically.

"Just trying to help," the teen shrugged.

"Yes well be helpful and pick up a book. I believe it would well serve our interests if we had some answers by the time Buffy came back."


	13. Chapter 13

"If I were a minion of the First Evil where would I be hiding?" Buffy said to herself as she walked along the outskirts of town. She was concentrating on the Slayer connection she had with Faith that was throbbing deep in her stomach letting her know that her brunette counterpart was still alive. As she got further and further from the house the desire to simply run back and stay by Faith's side got harder to resist and she almost did just that. The fact that she wanted; that Faith needed answers was probably the only thing that kept her feet walking away from Slayer Central.

"How come I've lived in Sunnydale for seven years and I never noticed a vineyard before," she thought aloud stopping to scrutinise the winery she had just found. Keeping to the shadows because this definitely wasn't on the up and up, she watched as several black robed figures seemed to float towards the building, looking as if their feet didn't even touch the floor.

"Creepy robed guys and suddenly appearing buildings, Buffy I think you've found something," she said, "Plus it's got you talking to yourself which is a clear sign that there is evil afoot."

Sneaking behind the last of the robed figures she slipped in behind him and wrapped an arm around his neck squeezing until she felt him go limp in her arms. Glad that he hadn't tried to make a sound she drove a shoulder into his abdomen and slung him over her shoulder quickly retreating back into the shadows where she had come from, backing away to make sure they hadn't been spotted. Dropping him to the ground she rolled him over with the toe of her shoe her eyes widening when she saw his face. The man was completely bald and his eyes were removed, instead where they should have been were carved rune like symbols that surrounded the socket almost like a sun. She had seen these guys in her dreams, had faced them when the First had tortured Angel but never really taken the time to study their features. Apart from the carved out eyes the man looked human but she bet that they were anything but ordinary. Confident that she had got the right guy she bent down and slung him over her shoulder once more before heading back to the house, back to Faith.

The scene she entered into wasn't much different from the one she had left, except for the absence of a once former rogue Slayer and a former Key. She hefted the guy, who she had remembered on the way back Giles had called a Bringer when the First had came around last time, higher onto her shoulder and motioned for Giles to open the door to the basement. The former Watcher did as she asked and quickly told the Potentials who had been enjoying a movie night with Andrew back up the stairs.

"Mr. Giles you can't end the movie marathon now, this is the part where Captain Kirk helps the enemy's pregnant wife escape, that William Shatner sure is masterful," Andrew sighed wistfully.

"Andrew we do not have time for your frivolous television shows, Faith has been poisoned and we need this space to interrogate a Bringer, so kindly stop your whining and move those cushions so Buffy can set him down," Giles said sternly.

"I'm going to forgive you for the frivolous comment because the Dark One needs my help and who am I to deny the helpless?" Andrew said with a dramatic sigh.

"Oh for god's sake Andrew he asked you to move the cushions not stop the apocalypse," Xander said shoving the blonde haired man out of the way so he could get the chains prepared.

The carpenter hurried the nerd along and helped the blonde haired Slayer secure the Bringer to the wall giving him a not so gentle nudge for hurting Faith. Sure he and the dark Slayer had a ways to go before they would be back to the best of buds, but he was definitely on her side and would be more than happy to go back to how they had been before the Mayor. He and Faith were more alike than he cared to admit and he had always felt a strange protectiveness of the younger Slayer, still feels he corrects himself standing back excited to see Buffy get scary.

"How can we tell if he's awake if he's missing his eyes?" Buffy said making a face.

Xander snorted to himself, "Truly terrifying," he chuckled.

"Say something horribly insulting about the First and see if he sticks up for his boss?" Willow chimed in.

"I like this plan better," Buffy said delivering a bone crunching punch to the Bringer's face making his head snap back.

"Well if he was awake I don't think he would be after that," Xander said, "That was brutal Buff."

"Yeah well he deserved it for napping on the job," Buffy grumbled, "Oh hey look who's awake," she said as the Bringer raised his head.

"Score one for violence," Xander mused moving back to stand behind his blonde haired friend.

"Okay bud here's the deal, your boss sent some weirdo vampire after my friend. Now usually I wouldn't be one to pull out the chains and get with the bondage but this friend we're finally getting along because hey, I wouldn't usually talk about bondage, but even if I'm picking up some of her bad habits I'd still like for her to stick around. So I'm thinking you tell me what I want to know and I'll see about making your death one of the quick and painless kinds," Buffy said bending down so she was at eye level with the Bringer.

"Prepare to die you unholy fiend," Andrew piped in with a re-enactment of over exaggerated kung fu moves.

"And if you don't I'll lock you in a room with Andrew and let him slowly and painfully annoy to death," Buffy said glaring at the blonde haired man, "What did the First send after Faith?" she asked turning back to face the Bringer.

The Bringer stared straight ahead, his scarred eye sockets never blinking. Buffy growled at him, her hands balling into fists at her sides.

"Listen, I don't have all day so either you talk or you find out what a Slayer really is," she said leaning down and pulling on his collar so their faces were nearly touching.

"Buffy he's dumb," Giles said from where he was sitting at the table with his nose in a book.

"Obviously, no one would risk being locked in a room with Andrew," Buffy said whirling around to face the former Watcher.

"No, dumb as in he can't speak, his tongue has been removed," Giles reiterated.

"Oh, gross. So how do we get him to speak, no, sorry, how do we get him to speak fast because the more time we waste on Charlie Chaplin over here the less...let's make him speak," Buffy said not wanting to think about what would happen if they didn't find out what had poisoned Faith.

"I may have a way," Willow said.

"I'm up for anything even if it involves fashioning him a new tongue out of salami or something, which ew, I really hope that's not it," Buffy shuddered.

"No, no salami tongues. I remembered reading this spell that people used to communicate with the dying, sort of let them say goodbye or get really mad because no one turned up to say goodbye, but, uh, that could work," Willow said looking to Giles for confirmation.

"Willow that's brilliant, that should work. We'll need to gather the ingredients and then you and I can perform the spell together," Giles said giving the witch an encouraging smile.

"While you guys do that I might go and check on Faith," Buffy said softly, "Is she."

"She's in your room," Xander said placing a comforting hand on her arm, "I'll keep an eye on things down here."

Buffy nearly ran out of the basement but forced herself to slow her pace when she realised the Potentials would all be waiting in the living room. She was confronted with a barrage of questions as soon as she entered the room and she brushed them all off promising to fill them in as soon as she knew anything. She gave Anya a thankful smile who was trying to keep the girls busy and informed Buffy that she had been telling them stories, she didn't even want to know what about.

Pausing outside her bedroom door she looked in to see Dawn sitting on the bed next to Faith. The teen was gently wiping the sweat from the dark Slayer's forehead and speaking to her softly, every so often brushing her hands through the former rogue's sweat soaked hair.

"How is she?" Buffy asked softly coming to sit next to Dawn and taking one of Faith's hands in her own. The dark Slayer's brow was furrowed but it smoothed out when Buffy ran her fingertips gently over the creases.

"She hasn't woken up and her fever is pretty much the same, the wound looks pretty ugly. Major black veinage which is probably not of the good right?" Dawn asked.

"No, not of the good," Buffy sighed running and hand through her hair, "We got a guy downstairs and the guys are going to make him talk. As soon as we find out what did this to her we'll fix it Dawn I promise. We won't fail her this time," she finished quietly.

"Guess you probably want some time alone," Dawn said going to stand.

"No stay," Buffy said reaching for Dawn's arm, "She'd want you to be here."


	14. Chapter 14

"I wish we knew if this was a good thing or a bad thing," Willow sighed as she replaced the bandage over Faith's neck. The wound was still red and raised but the black veins that had been spreading across the dark Slayer's skin had faded and all but disappeared in the time that they had finished interrogating the Bringer in the basement.

"Don't we still have tongueless guy chained up downstairs? Couldn't we just ask him?" Dawn asked.

"Uh, well there was a knife and a Watcher who wasn't happy with what was said and then well, then there was no more tongueless guy to interrogate," Willow said.

"What did you get out of him?" Buffy croaked, hours of sitting silently by Faith's bedside making her throat scratchy.

"He told us the creature that bit Faith is called a Turok Han and that's pretty much all we could get out of him besides the usual the Slayer is going to die, the First Evil will rule the world etcetera," Willow said.

"So what did it do to her? Why is it making her like this?" Buffy asked watching as Dawn wiped the sweat from Faith's still fever ridden body.

"He wouldn't say hence the slicing," Willow said miming her throat being cut, "But at least now we know the name of what it is, it will make the researching easier and we should have an answer soonish."

"Soonish. Will, we don't have time for soonish. She could be dying and there is nothing I can do to stop it," Buffy all but yelled her frustration ending with the lamp on her bedside being thrown against the wall, shattering on impact. She swiped angrily at the few tears that had leaked down her cheeks and gave Dawn a warning glance when the younger girl tried to approach her, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to yell it's just I can't stand this just standing here and not being able to do anything. I told her I wouldn't let anything hurt her," she finished softly turning to face the prone Slayer on the bed.

"We'll figure this out Buffy I promise," Willow said approaching her slowly finally reaching her and touching her arm tentatively. When the blonde Slayer didn't throw any punches the witch pulled her into a quick and reassuring hug.

Buffy had never felt so helpless in her entire life. Here they were just mending their relationship, Faith had trusted her, relied on her, needed her and all she could do was sit and watch as the brunette suffered. Her sister smiled at her sympathetically knowing how much she hated to feel helpless and pushed her gently into the chair next to the bed Faith lay on. She was too mentally exhausted to help with the research, couldn't face reading about all the sorts of things that could be hurting Faith. Dawn seemed to recognise this and gave her shoulder a quick squeeze and dropped a kiss to the top of her older sister's head.

"I'll help, just stay with her."

Buffy moved to sit on the edge of the bed as soon as Dawn left the room, her hands immediately taking up the job her sister had been doing before she left. Faith's fever had been raging all through the night and her flushed cheeks stood out against her pale cheeks. The brunette had never wakened, had hardly even moved her fever ridden body not seeming to have the energy to do so even as she moaned in pain.

"If you die I will never forgive you," she said softly wiping the sweat soaked hair off the other Slayer's forehead, "I know I said I would never let them hurt you and I'm so sorry but you have to give me the chance to make this right. You have to fight this Faith, please for me, whatever this is in you, you have to fight it," she grabbed onto the prone Slayer's hand and gripped it tightly.

"Hurts," Faith moaned her eyes scrunching together.

Buffy's heart soared at that little word. She had been secretly afraid that the dark Slayer had slipped into another coma and was so relieved that she almost pulled the other Slayer up from the bed and kissed her. Instead she settled for gripping Faith's hand a little tighter as she tried to coax her awake.

"Faith? I know it hurts but you have to wake up for me you're wigging me out here a little and I really can't afford to lose my cool in front of all the Potentials, I have a rep to uphold you know."

"B?" Faith groaned and the blonde could tell that she was struggling to open her eyes.

"Yeah it's me, come on let me see those baby browns," Buffy said rolling her eyes at her own corniness.

"Hurts," Faith groaned again but this time she managed to open her eyes.

"Hey," Buffy said softly running the back of her fingers down Faith's cheek.

"B," Faith rasped, "What? Where?" the brunette asked..

"Ssh it's okay, you're okay. You're in my room. Do you remember what happened?" Buffy asked.

"You said....outside...bit," Faith rasped obviously struggling to form the words.

"It wasn't really me, it was the First pretending to be me. Giles has found out that the thing that bit you is called a Turok Han but we're still trying to figure out what the bit is doing to you," Buffy said.

The brunette sighed and let her eyes fall closed, for a second Buffy was afraid that she had passed out again but seconds later Faith opened her eyes again focusing on the blonde's face.

"Help," she murmured.

"I'm trying," Buffy replied sadly, "Do you need anything? Food? Water? A trip to the zoo?"

"Bathroom," Faith ground out her eyes scrunched closed again.

"Okay, just let me get one of the guys so that they can help," Buffy stuttered.

"No....you...please...don't....want....know," Faith said.

"Okay, can you walk or do you want me to carry you?" Buffy asked knowing that this must embarrass Faith.

"Can...walk," Faith said struggling to sit up, Buffy reached down to help her and once she had an arm around the dark Slayer's shoulders she helped her stand. Her arm was still wrapped loosely around the brunette's shoulders as the two of them stood from the bed and she had to wrap the other around Faith's waist to stop the brunette from falling.

"Can't," Faith groaned her forehead coming to rest on Buffy's shoulder in defeat.

"It's okay just lean on me," Buffy said soothingly.

She could still feel the heat radiating off the other Slayer as the two of them slowly made their way down the hall towards the bathroom. Faith leaned heavily against her side and Buffy found herself supporting most of the other Slayer's weight. As they reached the bathroom door Faith faltered and the arm that had been looped around Buffy's waist tightened before the brunette pulled it and with a pained groan clutched at her chest.

"Faith? Faith what is it? What's wrong?" Buffy asked panicked finding herself completely supporting Faith as both of the dark Slayer's hands clutched at her chest her eyes clenched closed.

"God....chest...fuck," Faith panted.

"Your chest hurts? Okay, alright well let's just get you back to bed then and we'll make it better," Buffy rushed.

"No....B....make it.....stop....please," Faith pleaded her eyes open with silent tears leaking from her eyes and running down her cheeks, "Oh God....please."

With that the two of them sunk to the floor Faith no longer able to hold herself up and Buffy sunk with her the pain at seeing Faith hurting so much making her weak.

"Okay, it's okay we'll just sit here, in the hall until it passes," Buffy said wrapping her arms around Faith's torso and pulling her onto her lap.

"Why?" Faith gasped.

"I don't know sweetie," Buffy said sadly, "But we're going to make it better."


	15. Chapter 15

It was Dawn who found them on the floor outside the bathroom and she helped her sister get the distressed brunette Slayer into the bathroom. The pain in Faith's chest had subsided to a dull ache but her fever had returned and Buffy had decided that a cold bath would help bring it down.

The dark Slayer was slightly out of it due to her fever and for this the blonde was glad. It was hard enough not to concentrate on Faith's now nearly naked body pressed up against her own, without the brunette being coherent enough to sling about the sexual innuendos she no doubt would have should she be able. Instead she mumbled nonsense and groaned as Buffy held her upright and Dawn stripped her of her clothes. She tried to ignore her sister's gasps when she saw the words that had been scarred into Faith's back and instead concentrated on a spot on the wall behind her so she couldn't see the remnants of the horrific torture her sister Slayer had been subjected to.

Between the two of them they got Faith situated in the bath and Buffy couldn't stop her worried frown when the cold water didn't immediately stir Faith from her fevered state. Faith was still too skinny and pale; the bruises that covered her pale skin appeared darker in the yellow glow of the bathroom light. Buffy blushed furiously when Dawn handed her a damp wash cloth and paused hovering over the other Slayer's body. She couldn't bring herself to touch the other girl so intimately with the changing way she had been feeling about Faith lately. She knew there was nothing sexual in what they were doing but she couldn't stop the flood of heat that coursed through her body at the thought of touching Faith's naked body.

Dawn stared at her questioningly as she hovered over Faith's body before she sighed and grabbed the wash cloth and began to wipe it over Faith's limbs in an effort to cool her down. Buffy moved, embarrassed that her seventeen year old sister had no problem doing a task that she herself should be perfectly capable of performing and she would have if it were anyone else but Faith.

As it was she couldn't stop her eyes from sweeping quickly over Faith's body and was once again stunned at the beauty she saw there. She stopped at the twin puncture wounds on Faith's neck and she reached her hands out hesitantly to brush her fingertips slowly over them. The black veins that had been spreading from the wound had disappeared but even with the cool water being poured over her, Faith's skin still felt hot to touch.

"We're going to figure this out aren't we before...," Dawn trailed off.

"We always have before," Buffy replied her hand ghosting over Faith's face.

"Stone you, break you down," Faith murmured.

"She's not making any sense," Dawn said her worried frown mirroring that of her sister's.

"It's the fever," Buffy told her, moving so she was sitting next to the tub and taking of Faith's hands in her own.

The sisters sat in silence while Dawn continued to pour the cold water over Faith's body. Buffy was lost in her thoughts, anchored only by the feeling of her counterpart's warm hand in her own. Since the brunette Slayer had appeared at her doorway she had become aware of something hidden deeply underneath layers of memories that clouded her ability to pick apart what she was really feeling. She had been acting differently towards the younger girl and she as sure the other's had noticed. They had expected hostility on her part for all Faith had put her through in the past and she had surprised them all with the compassion she had shown. If she were being honest with herself she would admit that there was something there that always had been that caused her emotions to run wild when it came to her dark counterpart.

This thing, whatever it was could be attributed to nearly every interaction the two of them had had. She had been jealous when Faith had shown interest in Scott Hope and at the time she had rationalised it because he was meant to be her potential honey. When Faith had accidentally killed the deputy Mayor she had been upset because she wanted Faith to want her help and when she eventually turned and started to work for the Mayor she was angry that she couldn't have been the one to save her and make her feel wanted.

When Faith had awoken from her coma Buffy had so badly wanted for the two of them to start over and was crushed when Faith only wanted revenge. Then when they saw each other in Los Angeles she had felt that familiar surge of jealousy after finding Faith in Angel's arms, again blaming the jealousy she felt on her feelings for Angel. She had never, not in the three and a bit years they have known each other even contemplated that she could have had feelings other than the bitterness and contempt they had teetered between. It was only if she really delved into the reasons behind the bitterness and contempt did she begin to discover that perhaps that ran much deeper than she could even comprehend.

She didn't even know how she was having this conversation with herself. Could it even be possible that she felt something for Faith? How had she never noticed it before? Probably because she had been terrified at finding herself falling for her fellow Slayer so instead she had tried to push her away in an attempt to convince herself that she wasn't really having these thoughts. It wasn't like she loved her. Did she? Could she? She loved Faith.

Her heart quickened at the confession her inner monologue had just uncovered. If Dawn noticed that her breathing had started to quicken she didn't say anything and Buffy felt like Faith's flesh was burning in her own. She was panicking and she knew it and it wasn't because Faith was a girl, she had no problems with that whatsoever, it was because she was Faith. Faith who didn't do relationships, Faith who was get some get gone girl, Faith who broke hearts all over town, Faith who for all that she knew was very much into men. She was broken from her thoughts by Xander calling her name and in her daze she absently called to him telling him where she was.

"Naked Faith, very naked Faith!" Xander cried his arm flying to cover his eyes.

"Ain't nothing you haven't seen before XanMan," Faith said wearily having finally been roused from her fevered state and not bothering to cover her modesty either because she didn't have the energy to do so or she simply didn't care who saw.

"Faith!" Buffy said excitedly, "Thank god you're hot, I mean thank god you're not as hot as you were, I mean you're hot but you're not hot and what is it Xander?" Buffy flushed mentally chiding herself for her slip. Had she suddenly become a bumbling teenager with her sudden realisation?

Faith for her part let her slip of the tongue slide and looked wearily over at Xander who was still standing in the doorway with his arm covering his eyes.

"Angel is on the phone for you," the carpenter said.

"For who?" Buffy asked distractedly trying not to look below Faith's face.

"You," Xander said again his obvious frown covered by his arm.

"Okay, can you tell him I'll call him back," she said.

"He said it was pretty important," Xander replied.

"I won't be long," she replied.

He turned and walked straight into the door frame causing the three women in the room to laugh. He muttered something under his breath about how painful it was living in a houseful of women before disappearing down the hall.

"How are you feeling?" she asked Faith softly as Dawn grabbed a towel off the rack.

"Kind of steamrolled," Faith replied just as softly.

They didn't speak as Buffy helped her up from the tub whether it was from embarrassment on both of their parts or the tension that had arisen when Faith had stumbled and fallen into Buffy and the blonde had had to wrap her arms around the other girl's wet body to keep them both from falling. Of course with her new revelation she had almost dropped her when she realised what she was touching and what was touching her and she had to hold in an audible moan when she felt Faith's hot breath tickling her neck.

"I should get you into bed, I mean to bed," Buffy said blushing again.

"Hate feeling like this," Faith mumbled as Buffy and Dawn helped her get redressed.

"We'll figure this out I promise," Buffy told her.

She helped Faith back into her room and tucked her into bed taking a moment to brush the hair away from the younger girl's forehead. Faith gave her a quizzical look but didn't say anything seeming to relax under the blonde Slayer's touch. They stared at each other and Buffy could swear she could see straight into the other girl's soul. Faith had always been so guarded, had kept her walls so high that she had never really been able to tell what the other girl was thinking. She wasn't sure if it was because she had suddenly and finally accepted her feelings that she was now able to see behind those walls but she thought she saw something deep within that indicated that maybe Faith had similar feelings.

"Angel's waiting for your call," Faith said breaking eye contact and pulling at the sheet.

"I should probably call him back," Buffy replied.

"Probably."

**A/N: I finally updated!!! And we made a little bit of plot progress, well done for us!!! Hope you are still reading and that you can take the time to feed a starving author with some reviews.**


	16. Chapter 16

He answered before the phone had even rung once and Buffy was slightly taken aback by the urgency in which he said her name. It was a tone she hadn't heard since their meeting after she had been resurrected and she knew he hadn't just called to have a friendly chat.

"What's wrong Angel?" she asked knowing that whatever he was going to tell her would be bad news.

"It's Faith," he replied and her heart quickened at the mention of the girl who was currently upstairs in her bed.

"Cordy had a vision and she's going to get bitten by an ancient form of vampire called the Turok Han," he rushed, "Buffy you mustn't let her go outside, these vampires are unlike anything you've ever faced before, their fangs can inject a poison into their victims and the consequences are disastrous," he continued taking an unnecessary breath at the end.

"She's already been bitten," Buffy said quietly, "The First Evil manifested itself as me and tricked her into going outside."

"Is she okay," Angel asked.

"No, she's running a near constant fever, she's having chest pains and she can't walk two paces without feeling completely exhausted. The guys are looking into it but they haven't found anything yet," she told him.

"I have," he near whispered and she could hear the despair in his tone.

"Angel what's going to happen to her?" she asked.

"I tracked down a contact I have in the desert who was around the first time the First tried to end the world, he didn't try to end the Slayer line but tried to open the Hellmouth in Tokyo. His arm at the time wasn't nearly as large as it is now and the Slayer called then managed to stop his followers before they could do any real damage. My contact witnessed firsthand the changes that occur when bitten by a Turok Han. His clan, whilst human are born with the genetic capability to live for thousands of years and he said he's never seen anything like it. The venom in the Turok Han's fangs moves through the bloodstream until it reaches the heart. Once there it weakens the walls of the heart where it begins to produce more of the poison until eventually it is only poison being pumped through a person's veins. People's bodies aren't built to live with poison flowing through their veins so their body must transform into something that can," he stopped allowing her time to absorb what he had just said.

"A Turok Han," Buffy said horrified.

"Yes," Angel sighed.

"What can we do? We can't just let her die and turn into one of those things, there has to be some sort of cure, Angel I-I can't lose her," Buffy cried hot tears beginning to fall from her eyes.

"I haven't found anything yet but I have the whole team working on it, I promise we'll find something," he said.

"I don't know if I can tell her," Buffy said, "She doesn't deserve this, I haven't even gotten the chance to tell her how I feel or find out if she feels the same way" she said blushing when she realised what she'd revealed.

"I think she does," Angel said not seeming surprised.

"How do you know?" Buffy asked.

"I could always tell, from the moment she arrived the two of you always had a spark that I realised we would never come close to having, it's one of the reasons why I left," he said.

"You knew, well why didn't you tell me?" Buffy asked.

"I thought you would figure it out for yourself you know, before stabbing her and putting her in a coma," he laughed.

"Well I never was very bright," Buffy chuckled.

"You have to tell her," he said quietly, "About both things."

"I know," Buffy sighed running a hand through her hair," I just don't know how to. Hey, maybe you could do it for me since you already knew about how I felt and you found out about the poison."

"I think she'd prefer to hear it from you," he said, "And I think you might be pleasantly surprised."

"Fine, but she'd probably like to talk to you, I know the two of you haven't had the chance since Wes broke her out of jail," Buffy said heading towards her bedroom.

"I'm not telling her," he said.

"I know but I know she misses you," Buffy said pushing her bedroom door open.

Faith had her eyes closed but they snapped open when she heard Buffy's voice.

"Angel wants to say hi," Buffy said to her handing her the phone.

"Hey Fang," Faith said brightening.

Buffy smiled and moved to leave wanting to give them their privacy but Faith's hand on her arm stopped her.

"Stay," the brunette mouthed.

As Faith chatted to Angel Buffy laid beside her on the bed her arm going around the younger girl's shoulders. It seemed that whenever they were close her body needed to have physical contact with the other girl and she often found herself holding Faith in some way or another without even realising she had done it. She didn't fail to notice that the brunette never pulled away, in fact she was currently moving so that her head rested against Buffy's shoulder, still on the phone seemingly unaware of her actions. Was it possible that Faith's body reacted the same as her own? Was Angel right?

She could feel the heat radiating off the other girl's skin although it wasn't nearly as hot as it had been earlier. Sighing she closed her eyes and focused on feeling the other girl next to her and the husky tones of her voice. She must have dozed off because the next thing she knew she found herself being flung off the bed, her head hitting the corner of her sidetable with a painful thud.

Rubbing her head she looked up at Faith who stood above her, hands clenched into fists at her side. The younger girl was breathing heavily and her eyes darted between Buffy and the door as if she was caught in some internal battle. Shaking her head she lunged at Buffy with a feral growl and the blonde Slayer had to wrap her arms around the other girl's torso to stop her from hitting her, the two of them toppling over sideways as Faith struggled and shrieked to be let go.

"Faith! Faith it's Buffy, it's me," the blonde cried as the dark Slayer tried to scratch at her face.

One of the brunette's wildly swinging arms managed to make contact and the blonde dropper her arms from around her as she tried to clear her head. Faith scrambled back, her eyes wide with fear when she took in the blonde's dazed expression and rapidly purpling jaw and her own split open knuckle.

"B?" she asked, "Oh god, what's happening to me?"


	17. Chapter 17

Buffy didn't have time to answer before her bedroom door was flung open and Willow and Giles appeared each holding an axe that they had obviously grabbed from the weapon's chest after hearing the yelling. Faith whimpered at their sudden intrusion and it shocked her enough so that she practically jumped into the blonde Slayer's lap. She was still skittish and although the other Slayer was visibly terrified Buffy couldn't help but be happy that she had instantly chosen her to seek comfort from.

"It's okay it's just Willow and Giles," she said softly, wrapping her arms around the trembling girl's torso. The fever remained and Buffy felt her own skin flush where it touched the bare skin of Faith's arms.

"What's going on up here?" Giles asked his axe still raised.

"I-I don't know what happened," Faith said shakily.

"I do," Buffy sighed absently running her thumb over the soft skin of Faith's arm, "Angel knows a guy who has seen what happens when someone gets bitten by the Turok Han."

"Are we sure this guy is reliable? Giles' books have absolutely nothing in them," Willow said resting her axe on the floor.

"Angel seemed pretty convinced," the blonde Slayer said.

"What's happening to me?" Faith asked quietly her body still trembling.

"Let's get you back into bed and then I'll explain it okay," Buffy said smiling down at the younger girl.

It seemed that whatever energy Faith had had just moments before had all but disappeared and Buffy had to practically carry her from the floor and back to the bed. The dark Slayer was breathing heavily by the time they got there and Buffy took a moment to wipe the sweat from her brow using a cloth that was sitting on her bedside table. They shared a look and behind the fear and the pain that shone in Faith's dark eyes Buffy was sure she could see something that she was sure shone out from her own eye's whenever she looked at the younger Slayer. Giles returned with a glass of cold water which Faith took gratefully with shaking hands and both Watcher and Witch watched knowingly as the blonde carefully helped the brunette drink from the glass. They had known for quite some time, perhaps before the girl in question had even realised it for herself that there had always been a depth of feelings between the two Slayers. For the redhead it had been why she had been so jealous of the younger girl, not because she loved Buffy in that way herself but because she had felt that she would lose her best friend should the blonde ever realise how she felt for the other Slayer. Seeing them now she kicked herself for ever being so selfish, they were truly made for one another, the dark and the light and she would do anything for them to be able to be happy together.

"What did Angel say?" Faith croaked after she had finished her water. Buffy sighed looking at the younger girl before closing her eyes briefly. She knew she had to tell them what she had found out but it felt so wrong telling Faith who had been through so much already that her life was only going to get harder.

"His contact had witnessed the effects of the Turok Han bite before. Their fangs inject a poison into the bloodstream which moves around the body before finally reaching the heart. When it gets there it weakens the walls of the heart and penetrates through until finally it is only poison which is getting pumped through the body," she said keeping her eyes tracked on the younger Slayer's face. Faith had yet to react to what she was saying, in fact the only sign that she was listening was the hand that had gripped onto Buffy's forearm in what should have been a painful grasp but with her exhaustion was hardly even felt by the blonde.

"The body would not be able to survive without blood," Giles said taking off his glasses.

"No, it can't survive, not in its human form so it changes until it becomes..."

"A Turok Han," Willow finished her already pale skin becoming all but translucent at the thought.

The room was silent after that and all that could be heard was the sound of Faith's still laboured breathing. Buffy searched the other Slayer's face for anything that would give away what she was feeling but Faith's face had frozen as if she had gone into shock.

"I-I'm going to die? I'm going to become one of them?" she whispered finally letting go of Buffy's arm to hug herself.

"No you're not going to die, we won't let you, I won't let you," Buffy said tilting Faith's chin up so they were making eye contact.

"But I-I hit you, it's already started. I didn't wanna hit you but they told me to and I couldn't stop," Faith said.

"She hit you?" Willow asked finally noticing the large purple bruise on Buffy's jaw.

"She didn't mean to, she was confused. I know you didn't mean to and it's okay," Buffy said turning back to face the other Slayer.

"Still with her Slayer power and these new developments it may be pertinent that we take some precautionary measures just to ensure that everyone is safe," Giles mused, "Willow if you would perhaps head down to the basement and fetch the shackles we used on Spike."

"What? No! Giles you can't chain her up, she didn't mean to do it," Buffy cried.

"Buffy she's dangerous, we have all the Potentials and civilians to think about," Giles reasoned.

She's not dangerous. It isn't her fault. We can't just chain her up like some animal," Buffy protested.

"Do it," Faith interrupted, "You should do it, chain me up. I-I don't want to hurt anyone."

"You won't, I'll keep an eye on you, we all will," Buffy pleaded.

"And what happens when someone takes their eyes off me for a second and I snap? Are you really gonna let someone die because you don't feel like chaining me up?" Faith exploded. She wasn't really angry but something in her told her to be aggressive and she physically had to grab onto the bedspread to stop herself from lashing out.

"I'll get them," Willow said hurriedly after seeing the way the dark Slayer's eyes flashed furiously.

"It is not a punishment Buffy," Giles said, "You know I wish to see no harm come to Faith, it is to stop her hurting anyone or herself."

"I-I can't hurt anyone B," Faith said as she visibly deflated, "Especially not you," she finished softly.

"Okay," Buffy said finally, "But we have someone with her at all times and we hit the books harder than ever. We are not going to let this thing win. I want Anya to contact any demon types she knows and Giles anyone you know who could help and Will I want you to contact the coven," she said as the witch came back into the room, "I will not let this thing win."

Three hours later and the blonde Slayer found herself watching Faith as she dozed fitfully on the bed. Her now shackled wrists and ankles clinked loudly with every move she made and Buffy found herself abandoning the book she had been reading and walking over to sit on the edge of her bed.

"You can't just die," she said to Faith, softly tracing her fingers over the younger girl's scrunched up brow, "I can't lose you, not again." Faith whimpered in her sleep and Buffy had to turn away to bite back the sob that was threatening to escape.

"How's she doing?" Xander asked from where he stood in the doorway.

"Not good," Buffy sighed, "She's in pain and i-it hurts to see her like this. I can't lose her Xander, I just can't do it all over again," she broke off as the tears started to stream heavily down her cheeks.

"You won't, we won't," he said rushing forward and gathering her in his arms, "I promise we'll figure this out. We're the Scoobies after all, we always figure it out."

"How can you be so sure?" Buffy sniffed.

"I just have to be," Xander said pulling back and looking into her eyes, "There is a lot of badness in this town but I know she is not meant to be a part of it, you just got to have a little faith."

"Pun fully intended," she chuckled wiping her eyes and looking over her shoulder at the slumbering girl on her bed, "I love her Xand."

"I know," he whispered back.

"You do?"

"Of course, the only two Slayers to ever exist at the one time. That has fated love written all over it," he smirked.

"What about Kendra?"

"Kendra doesn't count 'cause I'm pretty sure she was a robot," he said, "Oh and just for the record, Slayer on Slayer lovin' I am definitely a fan of that."

She laughed and smacked his arm, glad that he could still make her laugh in this horrible situation.

"Thank you for being supportboy."

"It's supportoman but you're welcome," he said, "Anyways I've come to relieve you of your duties. There's some food downstairs and Giles wants you to talk to the Potentials."

"If anything changes come and get. I mean it Xand, as soon as she wakes up," Buffy said as he pushed her towards the door.

"You got it," he said, "We will find the cure," he reassured as she shot a longing look at Faith.

"I'm going to hold you to that."

After she had had something to eat Buffy had to explain to the girls what was going on with Faith and to ban them all from going into her room if Buffy wasn't with them. By the time Xander called down the stairs that Faith was awake the blonde was beyond exhausted. She grabbed a plate of food from the kitchen and headed back up to her bedroom to see the other Slayer.

"So sleeping beauty finally awakes," she teased setting the plate down on the nightstand.

"Turns out poison in the bloodstream really takes it out of ya," Faith rasped clearing her throat.

"Well I have the cure for that. Turns out no one in this house can really cook so Anya got take out and so we've got delicious Thai goodness for you," Buffy said sitting on the edge of the bed, "And apparently nobody trusts me with the keys to your chains so you're going to have to deal with me feeding you," she said sympathetically.

"It's okay, I don't think I would trust me with a knife or fork right now either," Faith said quietly looking at her hands.

"Hey, hey look at me," Buffy said tilting Faith's chin up, "I trust that you wouldn't help anybody if you could help it. That person who wants to hurt people, that isn't you, I know you don't want to hurt anyone and until you say you believe me there will be no Pad Thai for you."

"Okay, I believe you," Faith laughed.

"Good, because that Pad Thai is so good I would've probably have given it to you anyway," Buffy smirked helping Faith sit up on the bed and smiling when she realised Faith's fever had gone down, "Hey you're not hot anymore."

"What? Now that's just mean, here I am poisoned and dying and you're telling me I'm not hot. Low blow B."

"No, that's not what I meant, I mean of course you're hot, anyone without eyes could even tell you were hot, I know you're hot but okay bad Buffy babble. Point is your fever has gone down," Buffy flushed.

"You're cute when you're embarrassed," Faith muttered her eyes widening when she realised what she'd said. Buffy chose to ignore it but it made her heart warm to know that maybe she wasn't alone with how she felt.

"Open up or I'm going to eat this all on my own," Buffy said picking up the plate.

Faith eyed her wearily for a second but complied taking the fork into her mouth. She chewed for a second screwing up her face.

"B, I don't know if there is something wrong with your taste buds but that Pad Thai is not good," she said shuddering as she swallowed.

"What are you talking about? That Pad Thai is so good I nearly cried when I ate it," Buffy said.

"Slayer," Spike said from the doorway, "And other Slayer. You're awake and you look good in chains," he smirked.

"Shut it Spike," Buffy said but she was grinning, "Anyways Faith I don't know what you mean that Pad Thai tastes fine."

"I know what good Pad Thai tastes like and that is not it. That is gritty and tastes kind of like sand," Faith grimaced.

"Sand?" Spike said from the doorway his eyes widening before he disappeared from the doorway.

"Let me see," Buffy said taking a mouthful and chewing it, "Well obviously you can't appreciate good Thai food because that is amazing."

"Maybe it's you who can't appreciate good Thai food."

"For that I'm going to sit here in front of you and enjoy this and you're just going to have to wait for me to finish before I go and get you something else to eat," Buffy said taking a big forkful of food and putting it in her mouth, "Soo good."

"I bought something for you," Spike said standing with his hands behind his back in the doorway again.

"For me?" Buffy asked around a mouthful of food.

"Not you, the other Slayer. Does it smell good?"

"What the hell sort of question is that?" Buffy asked.

"Just let her answer, Dark One does it smell good," Spike said glaring at Buffy before turning his attention back to Faith.

"Yeah it does," Faith said smiling, "See B, whatever Bleached Blonde is hiding behind his back is real food."

"It's not a good thing love," the vampire said producing a mug from behind his back.

"Why? What's in it?" Buffy asked with her fork halfway to her mouth.

"Blood."


	18. Chapter 18

If it were possible the dark Slayer's face paled even further as the vampire held the mug out to her. The coppery smell that infiltrated her nostrils that would have usually made her stomach turn made her mouth salivate and she felt tears prick the back of her eyes. This was all happening too fast, she would die and she would truly become evil like they always said she would.

"What!" Buffy said watching as Faith's already pale face seemed to pale even further.

"I knew as soon as she said the food tasted like sand," Spike said sadly.

"But she's not a vampire, she's still alive!" Buffy said looking frantically from Spike to Faith.

"But I will be," Faith said her voice wavering.

"I told you already that I wouldn't let that happen," Buffy said to her softly.

"You can't stop it B! I can already feel it happening," Faith yelled trying to push herself off the bed, "My heart hurts every time that it beats and I can feel the poison moving around my body and soon I'm going to be of them and I'm going to be dangerous. You should just kill me now, before I have the chance to hurt anyone," Faith choked tears spilling down her cheeks.

"No Faith I won't, I couldn't do that," Buffy said her heart breaking for the girl in front of her. Faith was trying desperately to hide herself from them but with her arms and legs chained it made it almost impossible for her to move and this only made her cry even more.

Sensing that she wouldn't want him seeing her like this Spike quietly placed the mug on the night stand and slipped out of the room. Buffy moved so she was holding both of Faith's hands in her own and shook them to get the other girl's attention.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you," she said running her thumb over the back of Faith's hand, "And you're not going to give up either, you're going to fight this every step of the way because I won't lose you, I can't lose you."

Faith seemed stunned by her revelation and the two stared at each other in silence as the dark Slayer's tears continued to trickle down her cheeks. She wasn't sure who made the first move but soon their lips were crashing together and they became lost in each other.

As a first kiss it wasn't soft or romantic, it was desperate and full of passion that had been denied for so long. Buffy couldn't believe she had waited so long because kissing Faith seemed to make her world stop and turn at the same time. Her hands wound their way into Faith's hair pulling them closer and she felt her whole body respond as Faith moaned into her mouth. She pulled back reluctantly when air became an issue and giggled when Faith scowled at not being able to move her hands.

The dark Slayer's face was flushed and with their close proximity Buffy could feel the other girl's heart pounding in her chest, reassuring her that Faith was still very much alive.

"I have been waiting to do that for so long," Faith murmured as Buffy tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

"Deep down I think I have too," Buffy said softly, "I'm just sorry it took me so long to realise it."

"Don't be sorry B," Faith said her eyes watering, "If I hadn't been such an ass in the beginning then maybe none of it ever would have happened."

"I was the ass, I was so preoccupied with myself I didn't realise that you needed help. I could have saved you so much pain if I'd just admitted back then that I love you."

"You-you love me?" Faith asked her voice trembling.

"If you'll let me," Buffy said cupping Faith's cheek.

"I-I don't know what to say. No one has ever, I've never, I don't know how..."

"Sshh it's okay," Buffy said lowering herself onto the bed and pulling Faith to her so the brunette's head rested on her shoulder, "You don't have to say it, just know that I do."

"I do too," Faith said burying her face in the crook of Buffy's neck as much as her chains would allow.

Buffy held her as she cried her own tears joining as she cried for what she had found and what she could lose.

"Don't think I've ever cried as much as I have lately," Faith sniffed once her tears had subsided.

"Even bad ass Slayers have to cry once in awhile," Buffy shrugged tightening her arms around the younger girl.

They lay together in silence and although she knew she should've been going to talk to Giles about Faith's new 'no food' development her body just felt so right with Faith's wrapped around her. It was well past midnight and just as her eyes had all but drooped closed a grumbling from Faith's stomach caused them to snap back open.

"Sorry," the other Slayer muttered.

"You haven't had anything to eat yet, I'm so sorry I forgot," Buffy said reluctantly pulling away.

"It's fine I don't want to eat it anyway," Faith said trying to prevent Buffy from getting off the bed but failing miserably with her shackled limbs, "Ya know B if we tell people you came onto me while I was locked up in chains they might get the wrong idea about you."

"Shut up," Buffy said hitting her shoulder playfully, "And you have to eat, you have to keep your strength up if we're going to fight this thing."

"I hate that it smells so good," Faith said looking away.

"I know," Buffy said hopping off the bed and grabbing the mug.

"Where are you going?" Faith asked.

"Angel and Spike say it tastes better when it's warm," Buffy said, "I'll be quick," she promised hurrying from the room.

The house was quiet and Buffy was surprised to see all the lights off in the living room. She could make out the numerous sleeping bags spread out over the floor and checked quickly that the Potentials were settled before heading to the kitchen. Xander and Giles were in there talking quietly over steaming cups of tea and they both looked up as she entered.

"Buffy I didn't think you were still up," Giles said as she headed over to the microwave.

"I'm just heating this up for Faith," she said punching in the time and turning back to face them, "Did Spike talk to you?"

"He told us what was going on yes," Giles nodding taking a sip of his tea.

"I wish we had some sort of timeline," she sighed rubbing her tired eyes.

"We are working on it, but in the mean time you should head back up to bed, get some rest while you can," Giles said heading back out into the dining room where his books were spread out over the table.

"Something happened didn't it," Xander said waggling his eyebrows after the older man had left.

"No! Of course not...how could you?" she blushed as the microwave beeped.

"You have happy eyes," Xander said, "And happy eyes equal major kissage. Am I right?"

"You could be," Buffy said pulling out the mug of steaming red liquid.

"I'm happy for you," he said kissing her on the cheek, "Oh and tell Faith if she hurts you she'll have to answer to me," he said winking and flexing his muscles.

"She will be truly terrified I'm sure," Buffy said chuckling, "Thanks Xan, for being okay with it."

"Are you kidding/" I'd be okay with anything if it made you happy. Now get on up to your girl while we try and figure out how to save her life."

Faith had managed to wriggle her way up into a sitting position by the time Buffy returned and her stomach growled as the smell from the mug in the blonde's hand reached her nostrils.

"I don't want you to have to watch me drink this," she said as Buffy sat on the bed next to her.

"You don't have to be embarrassed," Buffy said stroking the side of her face, "Besides I kinda have to help you drink it with the chains still being on and all."

"Right," Faith muttered, "I-it's just it makes me feel sick at the thought of drinking it but at the same time I can feel my body craving it."

"I won't think any less of you," Buffy promised.

"I know but it feels wrong but right at the same time, like my brain is saying no but my body is screaming yes."

"I will love you if you drink blood, water or cherry cola which for the record I think is evil and disgusting," Buffy said holding the mug up to Faith's lips.

Faith looked at her with complete amazement overcoming her features. No one, not even the Mayor had said anything like that to her before. She felt the warm liquid touch her lips and drank it down eagerly never taking her eyes off the woman who looked back at her that made all the pain in her body seem to melt away. She had always loved Buffy she had just never thought anything could ever happen between them. It felt so surreal and yet so incredibly wonderful to know that Buffy loved her back.

"Wasn't so bad was it?" Buffy asked when she was done.

Faith shook her head as she licked her lips. Her stomach felt full and it made her feel warm and snuggly even with the dull ache in her chest. Drinking the blood made her feel less human but when Buffy lay down next to her and wrapped her arms around her waist it seemed to fill the void that drinking the blood had made.

"I love you," Buffy whispered as she stroked the younger girl's hair.

"I do too B," Faith whispered back hating that she couldn't actually form the words but hoping that Buffy knew how badly she wanted to say them.

"Let's get some sleep huh, something tells me tomorrow is going to be a big day," Buffy said leaning over and switching off the bedside lamp.

"'Kay," Faith murmured already feeling the pull of sleep as her eyes drooped closed.

"Somebody will be giving me answers tomorrow," the blonde whispered dropping a kiss to the sleeping girl's forehead before finally allowing her own eyes to drift shut.


	19. Chapter 19

When Buffy woke the next morning it was neither pleasant or relaxing as it should have been. Instead she woke to Faith's insistent pleading tones as the younger Slayer tried desperately to get away from her.

"B please you gotta go," Faith pleaded as sweat beaded at her hairline.

"Wha-Faith what's going on?" Buffy asked still not quite awake.

"Something is happening to me and it's not something good. You've gotta move B I don't wanna hurt you."

Buffy felt her mind clear instantly at the younger girl's desperate tone and her hand went to Faith's chest instinctively to reassure herself the other girl's heart was still beating.

"B, please," Faith said desperately, clenching her eyes shut as her whole body trembled.

"I thought I told you already that I wasn't going anywhere," Buffy said cupping the younger Slayer's face and pressing their lips together.

Faith resisted at first, her body tense beneath Buffy's but she eventually relaxed and kissed Buffy back with the same ferocity. Buffy pulled back when she felt a sharp sting on her lips and her breath quickened as she lifted a shaking hand and felt the warmth of blood on her lip.

"No," she whispered staring at Faith who still lay with her eyes closed, her chest heaving with each breath she took.

She could see the other Slayer's nostril's flare when the coppery scent of her blood hit the air. Faith's eyes snapped open and her gaze zeroed in on the now clotting cut on Buffy's lip. The younger Slayer growled deep in her throat and her newly elongated canines were beared in a way that made her look feral. Her forehead stayed smooth and her eyes were still a deep brown but held none of the softness Buffy had grown accustom to seeing. She barely had time to jump off the other Slayer's body before Faith snarled and lunged forward, screaming angrily when the chains prevented her from getting very far.

"Faith! It's me Buffy, I know you're still in there you have to hold on," Buffy said as Faith let out another frustrated scream as she strained in her restraints.

Buffy watched in fascination and horror as Faith's muscles tensed and the metal of her restraints made a dreadful crunching sound before snapping. Faith leaped at her as soon as she was free, snarling as she flew off the bed. Buffy vaguely heard her door bang open as she struggled to hold Faith off and heard the younger Slayer yelp before falling against her as a dead weight sending them both crashing to the ground. Giles and Xander stood in the door, a tranquiliser gun held in the older man's hands.

"What's with you and the fanged types?" Xander asked trying to ease the tension.

"I was always a problem child," Buffy shrugged kissing the top of Faith's head.

"Buffy I know you do not like it but I highly recommend we move Faith to the chains in the basement," Giles said looking at both girls with concern.

"I know," Buffy sighed managing to stand with Faith in her arms, "Tell Will to meet us down there, I want her to reinforce the chains."

"What happened?" Dawn asked meeting them at the bottom of the stairs with a group of Potentials surrounding her.

"The venom is making her change, making her dangerous," Buffy told them, "No one is to go down into the basement under any circumstances."

"Shouldn't we be staking her or something?" Kennedy asked, "I mean a vamp is a vamp right and I would hate to see the Psycho Slayer with added vamp strength."

Willow who had joined them by this point was glad the blonde Slayer was holding Faith because the look on her face was beyond murderous and she was sure Kennedy would have been met with an angry Slayer powered fist to the face if she had not.

"She is one of use," Buffy ground out, "If anyone so much as goes near her with a stake they will be answering to me," she said glaring dangerously at everyone in the room before stalking off towards the basement with Giles and Xander in tow.

"You better stay out of Buffy's sight for awhile," Willow told Kennedy before she and Dawn followed the others to the basement.

"Does this mean I'm bunking with you now Slayer?" Spike smirked as he cleared his things off the bed in the basement.

"In your dreams," Buffy said lying Faith carefully down once he was done.

"You better believe it," he said jumping out of the way when she went to hit him.

"You can take me room, I want to stay down here with Faith," Buffy said securing the shackles around Faith's wrists and ankles as gently as she could.

"What happened up there?" Xander asked as Willow murmured something over the chains causing them to glow momentarily.

"She said she could feel something happening, something not of the good but I reassured her she would be fine. Then I cut my lip on fangs I didn't know she had and she changed. It was like she was a vamp but wasn't. No unattractive yellow eyes or bumpy forehead, just your run of the mill blood lust and desire to rip my throat out," Buffy said running and hand tenderly over Faith's head.

"You cut your lip on her fangs?" Dawn asked her forehead scrunching in confusion, "How did you...oh...OH!"

"Yes well circumstances aside," Giles said blushing as he cleaned his glasses, "It seems the physical transformation has begun which means we are running out of time."

"She's still alive right? I mean she has fangs and is all blood drinky now so she's not..." Willow trailed off shooting a hesitant glance at her best friend.

"Heart's still beating," Spike said, "Can hear it," he shrugged off their questioning looks.

"Okay Giles I want you to call Wesley and see if they've found anything. Spike, Xander, I want you to hit up every demon bar in town. Talk to everyone and everything, and by talk I mean hit until they tell you something useful. Will I want you to get into contact with the Coven, see if there's anything they can do, maybe slow it down or something. Dawnie, we and everyone upstairs are going to hit the books and the web, look for anything on vampiric transformation. There has to be something out there and I am not going to sit by and let this keep happening to her," Buffy said.

"Aye aye captain," Spike said as Xander threw him the thick blanket that would protect him from the sun until they could reach the tunnels.

"I'll bring you some books," Dawn said to her sister once the others had left, "Oh and for the record I'm really happy for you, you two make a cute couple. Faith was always so much cooler than any of your other boyfriends, even if I didn't show it at first I always liked her and I am happy she came back."

"Thanks Dawnie," Buffy said hugging her sister and smiling as the younger raced back up the stairs.

"You hear that baby?" Buffy asked planting herself at the unconscious Slayer's bedside and placing a hand on Faith's shoulder so she could feel every breath the other girl took, "Dawn thinks we make a cute couple and I'm going to make sure we get the chance to be one."


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: **Sorry it's been awhile I have been working full time over the uni holidays but I am back so I hope you like this new update.

Buffy felt like she aged twenty years as she watched helplessly as her lover suffered. Over several hours Faith had woken three times, first she had been aggressive and growled and strained on the chains until Giles had shot her with another tranquiliser dart to prevent her from ripping them from the walls, secondly she had woken screaming and clutching at her chest in pain and Giles had shot her again to stop her pain, the last time she had been quietly muttering to herself and had ignored any attempts Buffy had made to speak to her.

She had seemed calm enough so Buffy had gingerly approached and helped her to drink from a mug of warm blood all the while the brunette had had her eyes focused somewhere over the blonde's shoulder. The warm blood in her stomach seemed to stir the younger Slayer and gradually her eyes focused on the blonde who watched her worriedly.

"Faith?"

"How come I'm down here?" Faith asked trying to brush the hair out of her eyes but failing when she found she couldn't move her shackled hands higher than her elbows.

"You don't remember?" Buffy asked reaching over tentatively and brushing the hair away from the other Slayer's face for her.

"I remember being upstairs in your room but I don't remember how I got down here," Faith said.

"I just thought you'd be more comfortable down here," Buffy said knowing as the words came out of her mouth that they sounded ridiculous but she couldn't make herself tell Faith what was happening.

"Damn I must've really been out if I didn't feel you move me down here, hope I didn't drool on you or nothing," Faith said her cheeks flushing.

"Nope no gross drooling, maybe the occasional comment about how amazing I am but definitely no drool," Buffy said hating how easy it was to lie to her.

"Good, 'cause even with my awesome rep it's hard to recover from that," Faith said, "So how goes the research?" she asked looking at the pile of books that had accumulated around the chair Buffy had been sitting on.

"No luck yet," Buffy sighed suddenly feeling a weariness that made her bones ache, "But the whole gang is working on it so I'm sure we'll have something soon."

They chatted comfortably, as if one wasn't on the verge of turning into a prehistoric vampire, pretending that for once they were just two people in love. Their little bubble was shattered when Giles came down to check Faith's heart rate and breathing and the younger Slayer seemed to wither under his touch. Suddenly she had dark circles under her eyes and barely seemed able to hold her head up. If Giles had a problem with the way Buffy moved so she was sitting next to the other girl on the bed he didn't say anything as he noted his findings in the little notebook that never left his hand nowadays.

"You okay," Buffy whispered to Faith, not questioning why Giles even owned the blood pressure cuff he was wrapping around the other Slayer's arm.

"Tired," Faith murmured her head falling heavily against Buffy's shoulder.

Buffy was glad the younger Slayer couldn't see the look of alarm that crossed her face at Faith's suddenly slurred voice. She shared a worried look with Giles who patted the slumbering Slayer's arm affectionately as he unwrapped the cuff and noted something else in his notepad before sitting heavily in Buffy's recently vacated chair.

"How is she?" Buffy asked, happy she could feel Faith's warm breath on the bare skin of her shoulder.

"Her heart is struggling to beat which is why she's so tired," Giles sighed.

"Should we be taking her to the hospital?"

"I'm almost positive there is nothing they could do for her," Giles said polishing his glasses on the bottom of his shirt, "I-I don't want you to get your hopes up, we may not be able to save her."

"I'm not giving up on her."

"I'm not saying that we will. Despite her past none of us want Faith to suffer and we will do all in our power to see that she survives this but Buffy there simply may not be anything we can do."

"You don't think I know that," Buffy hissed, "You don't think that over the years I haven't come to expect horrible things to happen to me, for the people that I love to die, but Giles I can't face losing anyone else I love. I mean I physically can't do it, I can't sit here and lie to her and just watch her fade away."

"Unfortunately the life of the Slayer..."

"Don't give me the life of the Slayer bullshit," she interrupted him angrily, "I'm sick of people using that as an excuse for all the bad things that happen. I was destined to save the world, it said nowhere that I would be miserable and everyone around me would suffer. I didn't sign on for this, she didn't sign on for this. If they let her die then I'm done and you can tell them, the Council, the Powers, whoever that they can find themselves a new Slayer because I refuse to help them anymore."

"I can never understand the sacrifices you have made, but I do understand the pain you are in. I have lost people I love to the forces of darkness and when I was appointed your Watcher I vowed to try and protect you in any way that I could. Seeing you suffer hurts me just as much as I'm sure seeing Faith suffer hurts you. Believe me Buffy, the pain you have been through I would gladly take away if I could so I will do everything I possibly can to ensure that Faith gets through this, but even that might not be enough," he said his face pained.

Buffy could feel her lower lip tremble but she refused to give into the tears that so badly wanted to fall. She refused to turn into the little girl who wanted nothing more than to crawl into her surrogate father's lap and hide until he made it all better. She knew she couldn't do that now more than ever when it wasn't just Faith's life she had to worry about.

"Thank you," she said softly, "Thank you for helping, thank you for being there for me and thank you for not freaking out when you found out about me and Faith."

"Believe it or not I think you two are oddly suited to one another."

"It's the Slayer thing."

"No, I believe it's the Buffy and Faith thing," he said fondly making her heart warm.

"So, honestly looking at all the notes you've taken, how much time does she have? From a medical point of view?

"A day, two at the most," he said sadly, "Her heart is weak and I would assume over the next day or so her other organs will have difficulty functioning without the proper blood flow that they desire."

"O-okay," she cleared her throat, "Tell the others when they get back that I want to have a meeting where we go over every single bit of information we have found."

"Of course, I will go gather my things," he said standing slowly and squeezing her shoulder affectionately an action he then mirrored on Faith moving his fingers swiftly to discreetly check her pulse at the same time.

Once they were alone Buffy gently manoeuvred Faith down so she was lying on the bed she was chained to. The brunette's chest shuddered with every breath she took and her skin looked almost translucent. Buffy was almost afraid to touch her as she skimmed her fingertips lightly over the slumbering girl's twitching eyelids, wondering what it was she was dreaming about.

"Won't kill B," Faith murmured softly.

So that was what she was dreaming about.

"You won't hurt me," Buffy whispered to her, "You won't hurt anyone I promise."

The doorbell sounded upstairs but Buffy ignored it content to sit and watch Faith's chest rise and fall with every breath. When it sounded again she looked towards the stairs irritated that no one had bothered to get it. When it rang a third time she sighed angrily but stood from her chair.

"I'll be back soon baby," she said before racing up the stairs.

The living room was deserted and she met a harried looking Giles at the bottom of the stairs who had obviously assumed someone else would get the door as well. Giles continued on to the living room where his stuff was spread out across the table while she went to get the door, the surprise clearly evident on her face when she saw who was on the other side.

"Angel...what are you doing here?"


	21. Chapter 21

Even though she knew it was impossible Angel looked to Buffy like he had aged substantially since the last time she saw him. She knew she must look just as bad, the stress of Faith's infection and the ever looming danger of the First constantly hanging over her head.

"Angel?" she asked again.

"I found something," he said his voice weary.

"You found something?" Giles asked having come to see who was at the door, "Where did you source your information?"

"What did you find?" Buffy asked ignoring Giles' question.

"I think you better sit down," he said as Buffy ushered him inside, "It's not good."

"What do you mean it's not good?" Buffy asked hating how shrill her voice sounded, "You said you'd found something, so something is better than nothing right?"

"You should sit down," Angel said again watching as she paced frantically in front of him, "It'll be better if you hear it sitting down."

"How did you even find anything? We've been looking forever and we haven't found anything. Can you even be sure whatever you've found is even legit? Can we even trust this guy you got your info from? I swear to God if you tell me to sit..." she said in warning as Angel opened his mouth to speak.

"Buffy maybe if we just let Angel speak we can go from there," Giles suggested kindly, noting his Slayer's agitation, "Angel if you will..."

"Cordelia had a vision, of a demon living in a cave deep in the Nevada desert and she didn't see much in the vision but she said she got a feeling that he knew something so Gunn and I headed out there. Cordelia's vision didn't give us much to go on so it took us awhile to find the cave but when we did, well what we found wasn't pretty," Angel sighed.

"He was dead?" Buffy asked her shoulders slumping as she prepared herself for another dose of bad news.

"He may as well have been, someone had gotten there before us, someone knew that he knew something and they didn't want us to know what it was."

"The First," Buffy sighed finally taking Angel's advice and sitting on the couch.

"Someone who works for him," Angel nodded, "We thought he was dead his injuries were so extensive but as we were about to leave he called out to us. He could hardly speak but he knew stuff, I don't know how because he didn't last long enough to tell us why he knew what he did but he was certain it was legit and unfortunately it sounds cruel enough for me to believe that it is true."

"Cruel enough?" Giles asked.

"The Powers never make anything easy do they" Angel said sadly rubbing his brow.

"Angel, what did he tell you?" Buffy asked.

"There is a cure, something that will reverse the effects of the Turok Han venom, but it's impossible, it can't be done, it's too dangerous," Angel said looking seriously into Buffy's eyes as if willing her to believe him.

"Angel if there's a cure we have to do it," Buffy said incredulously, wondering why he would even consider letting Faith die, "Nothing is more dangerous than Faith dying and turning into one of them."

"I know she wouldn't want it, this cure. I know her and she wouldn't want it even if it meant she died," Angel said.

"Yeah well she's not really up to making any decisions right now is she," Buffy exploded, "In case nobody has noticed she's downstairs and she's in pain and she's becoming something that we were born to destroy, I'm sorry Angel but we were. There is nothing that she would hate more than becoming one of them."

"There is," Angel said softly, "And I would know because I've been there and I hated it."

"Angel what are you talking about?" Buffy asked.

"It's your blood, the cure," he said, "The only thing that will stop the transformation, reverse the effects is to drain the blood of a Slayer."

"Woah déjà vu much," Xander said stepping into the living room.

"You see, that's why it's impossible and that's why she wouldn't want to do it," Angel said, "She loves you Buffy and she would never want to do anything that would hurt you in any way.

"Seeing her die would hurt me, sitting back and knowing I could do something to stop her from hurting would hurt me," Buffy said softly.

"It's too risky," Angel pleaded.

"And it wouldn't be the first time I risked my life to save someone I love," Buffy argued, "In case you don't remember me risking my life is one of the reasons why you're still around."

"Of course I remember!" Angel all but shouted, "And I know how guilty I felt when I had to look at you in that hospital bed and know that I was the one who put you there. Faith couldn't live with herself if she went too far, if she couldn't stop that would be it, she couldn't come back from it. Knowing she had killed you would kill her."

"And seeing her die knowing I could've cured her would kill me," Buffy yelled.

"But of course," Giles said, "It's too perfect."

"What is?" Buffy asked turning away from Angel to look at her Watcher.

"It's the perfect weapon either way. If Faith dies the First has a powerful new ally in her newly vampiric form and the Slayer is devastated and distracted by her death but if she is to cure the other, if you were to let Faith drink from you then there is the gigantic possibility that she could go too far and kill you and then she would be destroyed or the amount that she does drink incapacitates you enough so that you are unable to participate in the battle," Giles said, "Don't you see? Buffy it was planned from the beginning, he wants you both out of the war and this is the way that he is going to go about doing it. You cannot do this. You risk not only your life but the fate of the entire world if you let Faith drink from you."

Buffy looked at him in utter disbelief. Here was the man who just hours before had promised to do everything in his power to see her happy and to save Faith's life was now standing there and telling her to let Faith die.

"I love her," Buffy said, "I love her and you're telling me to just sit back and watch as she becomes...I won't do it, I won't let her die."

"Buffy you have to listen..." Giles called after her as she retreated from the room.

"No you listen!" she whirled around a tear catching the light on her cheek, "I'm sick and tired of losing the people I care about. I'm doing this and you can either support me and make sure that I don't die or you can sit back and do nothing and basically sign both of our death certificates."

With that the blonde Slayer turned and stormed off, the slamming of the basement door making them all jump.

"Seriously, déjà vu much."


	22. Chapter 22

Just knowing that they could cure Faith made Buffy breathe a sigh of relief as she leaned back against the closed basement door. She could hear the younger girl groaning in pain from where she lay on the cot at the bottom of the stairs but Buffy couldn't face her just yet because she knew she would let her drink there and then and that wouldn't help anybody. She would need Willow to be there to magically pull Faith off should she start to lose control and take too much of her blood. She sat down on the top step feeling that if she couldn't bring herself to look at Faith she could at least be in the same room with her and hopefully offer her some comfort that way while they waited for Willow.

She could hear Xander and Angel arguing outside the door over the logistics of the matter and she had half a mind to go out there and knock their heads together. They would never grow out of their petty jealousy and she really didn't feel like dealing with their insecurities at this point in time. She tried to attune her hearing to something other than their shouting and found herself concentrating on the weak beating of Faith's heart that she could just pick up if she really focused.

It was only when she picked up a faint whisper of her first initial did Buffy give in to what she had been so desperate to do all along and head back down to Faith's bedside. She gasped when she took in the younger girl's appearance which had changed so much in the short time since she had seen her. Faith's lips were blue due to the lack of oxygen in her blood due to her weakly beating heart, her breathing was laboured and she looked so frail Buffy was afraid she would break if she touched her.

"Oh baby," Buffy breathed ghosting her fingers over Faith's pale cheeks.

"I'm...still...hot...right," Faith gasped.

"Smokin'," Buffy choked out.

"Hey...don't...cry...B."

"I'm not crying I promise," Buffy said swiping at her cheeks, "But I have some good news for you."

"Andrew...finally...come...out?"

"No," Buffy chuckled, "But that is bound to happen sooner or later. Angel's here and we found a cure."

"I'm...gonna...be...okay?"

"You're going to be fine," Buffy said, "And these are happy tears now."

"What's...the...cure?" Faith asked.

"Don't you worry about that, you just worry about keeping up your strength until we can give it to you."

"B...what is it? I...know when...you're lying...your nose...twitches."

"Does not! And how could you possibly know that, I never lie to you."

"Liar."

"Just because you're sick doesn't mean you can be mean to me," Buffy pouted.

"And just...because I'm sick...doesn't...mean...you have...to lie...to me."

Faith's eyes were bright in her pale face and Buffy could see the need for the truth behind those words. She did deserve to know the truth even though Buffy would not let her back out of it no matter how much she didn't like what she was about to hear.

"You remember when Angel got shot with the poisoned arrow?" Buffy said deliberately leaving out that it had been Faith who had been behind the attack.

She didn't say anymore somehow knowing that Faith would get what she meant and she watched as the younger Slayer's breath hitched in her throat.

"No," Faith said with as much conviction she could muster in her weakened state.

"It's the only way."

"No...I won't."

"Faith, I won't let you die so you will do this whether you want to or not," Buffy said feeling her cheeks heat up with her emotion.

"It will...kill you...B...please...I don't...want to hurt you," Faith said her chest heaving as she struggled to breathe.

"Faith you have to calm down, your heart won't be able to keep up if you work yourself up," Buffy said rubbing a soothing hand on the cool skin of the other girl's shoulder, "Willow and Angel will be here, they won't let you go too far. This is our only chance Faith, you have to live for us to have any chance to be together and we are meant to be together. I've always known it I've just never had the confidence to admit it to myself and I will never forgive you if you don't give us the chance to become what we are meant to become. You have to do this and if you don't care enough about your life to do it then care about mine because I won't be able to survive without you."

"I won't...forgive you...if I take too much," Faith said after awhile, "Can't...live without...you either...when you died...felt like my...insides got ripped...out and my soul shattered."

"Deep," Buffy teased planting a light kiss on the younger girl's lips, "So let's make a deal, neither of us dies and then we get to become that couple that everyone is quietly jealous of because they are just so gosh darn happy."

"Deal...as long...as you promise...to never...say gosh darn...again," Faith wheezed.

"Okay hot stuff you just have to keep your vampirey transformation to a minimal until Willow comes back from wherever she went, apparently you can't reach the coven by just ringing them on the phone," Buffy frowned.

"I'll try," Faith said her eyes fluttering.

"It's okay baby you sleep, keep your strength up, I'll be right here," Buffy said taking Faith's limp hand in her own.

"No nose twitch...you're not...lying," Faith smiled as her eyes closed.

"No I'm not," Buffy said.

She watched Faith sleep for what felt like the thousandth time that week, taking the time to memorise every inch of her face, every breath that she took and every word she murmured. She was so immersed in watching Faith that she didn't notice Giles, Xander, Willow and Angel standing behind her until the redhead placed a tentative hand on her shoulder. It was obvious from their faces that they had been calling her name for quite some time before she regarded them.

"Sorry," Buffy blushed.

"It's okay, I think it's cute," Willow smiled happily, "Hands up all those who are happy Buffy has finally found someone she can really love. No offense Angel I know she did love you but it was more like she loved the thought of you, sexy older guy, really older guy but I'm not sure she was in love with you the person, well you the vampire really."

"Will," Buffy stopped her friend.

"I'm sorry," the redhead blushed, "You know I babble."

"It's okay Willow," Angel smiled kindly, "I am happy for them, both of them."

"I don't mean to interrupt but I really do think if we are to do this it should be soon, Faith doesn't look to be in the best of health," Giles said.

"Understatement of the century Giles," Xander piped in, "But just once more are we sure we want to do this."

"It'll be alright Xander," Willow assured him after being filled in upstairs with what was going to happen, "Angel is going to pull her off if she goes too far and if he can't then I'm going to step in."

"Are you sure Will?" Buffy asked.

"I'm sure, you need me and I'm not about to let you down, not again," Willow said.

"Okay, let's do this, let's save Faith."


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: We're getting close to the end folks only a couple of chapters left now. **

Faith could hear Buffy coaxing her to sit up but she felt like her limbs were made of lead. She felt so weak she couldn't even lift her head but she felt Buffy's warm arms wrap around her and lift her so she was cushioned against the older girl's body and sighed as she smelt the mixture of perfume and something that was so distinctly Buffy. She wanted to tell Buffy that she loved her but all that came out was a pathetic sounding groan that even in her weakened state made her cringe because she knew they weren't alone in the room and she hated that the rest of the Scoobies were seeing her this way.

"I love you too," Buffy whispered into her ear and Faith felt a sob build up in her throat with the realisation that somehow Buffy knew what she had wanted to say even without having to say it.

"Okay baby you can do it," Buffy whispered and Faith melted with the feeling of Buffy's fingers gently stroking her hair.

"I don't...want to," she gasped finding it hard to talk with her lack of breath.

"Don't make me list the reasons why you should again," Buffy said sternly, "You know how I hate to be repeatogal."

As hard as she tried Faith could not physically make herself bite into Buffy's neck. Even though with the way Buffy was supporting her her face was pressed into the crook of Buffy's neck she knew what the consequences of her biting Buffy were and her body would not allow itself to do it.

"Can't," she panted. She could almost feel the life draining from her body as the venom pumped around her bloodstream. She knew she didn't have much time left but she didn't want to hurt Buffy.

Buffy muttered something to the other people in the room and she felt Buffy grab her face as she roughly pressed their lips together. There was a passion and electricity in that kiss like Faith had never felt before. It was as if Buffy was transferring a part of herself to Faith through the intensity of the kiss. As Buffy's tongue sought entrance to her mouth Faith felt a fire in the bit of her belly that seemed to grow and expand throughout her body. With the force behind the kiss the brunette Slayer felt her teeth transform and before she knew what was happening her face was pressed into Buffy's jugular. She could sense the vein pulsing beneath the skin, could smell the sweetness of Buffy's blood which was there for the taking and could hear Buffy's words of encouragement. The demon that had been blossoming inside of her took charge and her teeth slid through the soft skin of Buffy's neck like butter. She could hear the soft cry Buffy gave as she began to drink and her eyes nearly rolled back in her head as the warm intoxicating liquid ran down her throat. It was true what they said, there really was nothing like Slayer's blood.

"_You feel the power Faithy? Can you feel it as you drink from her? If you drain her you will be more powerful than anyone has ever been. You will be unstoppable, not even the pathetic Scoobies will be able to stop you. She says she loves you but it's not true. She said she loved Angel but she's not with him anymore. What about the beefstick who she dumped the love of her life for, is she with him anymore...no. She let him leave like yesterday's trash. You think you're going to be any different. You think you, filthy, disgusting murdering Faith will be the one she lets in. No, it won't be you."_

Faith pressed Buffy's body firmly into hers as she gripped onto the back of the blonde girl's head. She continued to drink hungrily from the other Slayer completely intoxicated and lost in the bloodlust. The First's words reverberated around her mind as she drunk, as they were spoken in the form of her first Watcher, a woman she had always trusted. It was hard not to believe what it told her as she felt the power from Buffy's blood gradually working its way around her body and making her feel stronger by the second.

In the back of her mind she could hear Buffy weakly calling for her to stop, could feel those delicate fingers pushing feebly at her to try and move her away but she couldn't make herself pull away.

"_Drain her, kill her and you can rule by my side. Together we will be the most powerful rulers this world has ever known."_

She could feel Angel's cold hands gripping her shoulders trying to move her away but Faith growled low in her throat without moving her face from Buffy's neck and managed to throw him off without breaking stride. Buffy was limp in her grip now and her brain was screaming at her to stop but the blood was too intoxicating and she was too far gone, lost in the bloodlust to stop now. The rational part of her hoped that whatever plans the Scoobies had in place to stop her if things went too far would work because she could feel Buffy's life seeping into her the more she drank and it was now she who was holding the blonde up.

"_That's it Faithy, just a little bit more and it will be over."_

Faith felt the energy in the room change and crackle before she felt herself fly across the room and smack into one of the supporting beams. Her vision swam as her head connected with the beam and the last thing she saw before she lost consciousness was Buffy's limp form slumped on the blood stained sheets.

"Oh God B, what have I done?" she cried before she collapsed giving in to the darkness.

"Get them to the car immediately," Giles called as Xander scooped Buffy up and Angel grabbed Faith, "Willow bring the shackles."

It was a scene so similar to four years ago that Angel had to remind himself that it wasn't he who had put Buffy in the hospital this time. He watched Buffy get wheeled away while he still held Faith in his arms, not willing to hand her over until he knew that she was no longer a danger to anyone. Again he sat in the hard plastic seats of the Sunnydale ER feeling the warmth returning slowly to the girl he held in his lap. He could feel the strength returning to the brunette Slayer and he knew that the Slayer blood had done its job. They could only hope now that no long term damage had been done to her heart in the process. Of course if Buffy didn't pull through the damage to Faith's heart wouldn't be physical because he knew that no matter how strong she was she wouldn't recover from that.

"She'll be okay," he whispered into Faith's ear, "She has to be."


	24. Chapter 24

The dull beeping sound penetrated Buffy's ears like a jackhammer as she forced her eyes open. She was met with the stark white ceiling and smell of antiseptic indicating that she was once again in a hospital. Her head felt heavy and she groaned as she tried to sit up immediately jumping back when a pair of bright blue eyes jumped into her vision.

"Thank god you're awake Faith has been driving everyone crazy," Dawn said helping her sister sit up, "I have a sneaking suspicion that the doctor sedated her just so she would shut up not because there was actually anything wrong with her."

"Fa," Buffy coughed clearing her throat, "Faith's okay? It worked?"

"Yeah it worked, she's fine but she wouldn't sit still long enough for the doctor to do the ultrasound on her heart she kept insisting that she come and see you and introduced the nursing staff to a few new curse words until finally the doctor sedated her," Dawn said, "Now she's just kinda high which I think is just annoying him more."

"I have to go and see her," Buffy said pushing the covers off her legs only to be stopped by Dawn.

"Woah," she said pushing her sister back down, "You're not going anywhere until a doctor makes sure you're alright. I've already spent the afternoon Faith wrangling don't make me do it to you too."

"I just want to make sure she's okay," Buffy huffed.

"She's fine, she's probably annoying Angel with another version of Ice Ice Baby and before you ask yes she was doing that before," Dawn shrugged, "I told you she was high."

Buffy shook her head in amusement as she rested it back on the pillow. Her body felt light and not just from the massive blood loss she had suffered earlier but from simply knowing that Faith was alright. All the heartache she had suffered since the younger girl had come back into her life was worth it because Faith was alive. They were finally going to get the chance to be together and together they would do what they did best. Kick ass. She didn't know how but just knowing that the two of them would be fighting side by side she felt like the First didn't stand a chance.

"Buffy, are you okay? Are you in pain?" Dawn asked her voice worried.

"No Dawnie I'm fine," Buffy replied.

"Then why are you crying?"

Buffy hadn't even realised she was crying but now that Dawn had mentioned it she could feel the warm tears making their way down her cheeks. She was just so relieved that her other half was alright after thinking for so long that they wouldn't be able to save her.

"Miss Summers I'm glad to see you awake," a doctor dressed in green scrubs said entering the room with a clipboard in hand, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay, ready to get out of here if that was going to be your next question," Buffy answered.

"I'm afraid we can't let you go just yet you lost a lot of blood so we'd like to monitor you for a little while," the doctor said checking the heart monitor and writing something on his clipboard.

"Listen Doc, I know my body and I feel fine so I'm leaving whether you want me to or not," Buffy said stubbornly.

"Miss Summers you lost more than half of your blood, we were seriously worried that you would never wake up I would strongly suggest that you stay," the doctor said sternly.

"I honestly feel fine. I heal quickly and I'm bursting at the seams with blood and I'm not disrespecting your medical knowledge or anything but I really need to go and see my girlfriend," Buffy said throwing the blankets off her legs once again.

"Faith Lehane," Dawn supplied for the doctor.

"The rowdy girl in room 232," the doctor nodded knowingly, "If you listen hard enough you'll probably be able to hear her."

"Is she still singing?" Dawn asked.

"No I believe she's moved onto some good old fashioned gangsta rap now," the doctor chuckled, "We're not sure what's worse when she was fighting us to try and get to you or now when she's rapping horribly."

"If you let me go see her I'll do my best to get her to be quiet," Buffy reasoned already halfway out of the bed.

"You gotta admit Doc it's a fairly attractive proposition," Dawn laughed.

"She is disturbing the entire ward," the doctor supposed, "How about if I take you in to see her then you at least stay the night for observation."

"Take his deal Giles is seconds away from putting a pillow over Faith's face and that would just be sad since we're so happy she's alive and all," Dawn said.

"And while I can't condone murder in a hospital I don't think at this stage many people would be against it," the doctor smirked, "The nurses are minutes away from striking if they hear another chorus of Baby got Back."

"So deal made Buffy sees Faith and gets her to stop singing and then stays overnight to make you medical types happy that she's not going to die from lack of blood," Dawn said.

"Eloquently put," Buffy rolled her eyes.

"I'm surprised you even know what that word means," Dawn said rolling her eyes back.

"Alright Miss Summers if you'll wait a second and we'll get you a wheelchair and then you can go and work your magic on Miss Lehane," the doctor said giving the girls a friendly smile before leaving the room.

"So Faith's really okay?" Buffy asked her sister, "There's no damage to her heart or anything."

"She's fine," Dawn said, "They were a little confused when they did the ultrasound on her heart because they could literally see it healing itself on the screen so they wanted to keep her around to do some more tests. Giles said it was just her Slayer healing working overtime but you can't explain that to a medical professional so it'll just become one of those things that they rationalise like all the crazy things that happen in Sunnydale."

"So there was some damage?"

"Well the venom was weakening the walls of her heart so they were weaker than usual but your blood obviously counteracted the effects of the poison so everything is okay now."

"And how is she? I mean emotionally?"

"She was upset that they wouldn't let her see you but she didn't say anything to us that made her seem less than five by five," Dawn smirked, "She did threaten to stake Angel when he wouldn't let her get out of the bed, it was kind of hilarious watching him try and explain that to the nurse."

"Here we go Miss Summers," the doctor said coming back in with a wheelchair.

"You know this totally isn't necessary I can walk perfectly fine," Buffy huffed as she was helped into the chair.

"Just indulge me," the doctor winked at her.

Faith's room was only two doors away and Buffy made the doctor let her out of the chair before they got inside. She wanted Faith to know that she was perfectly fine and appearing in a wheelchair gave the impression that she was not one hundred percent and she didn't want to add to the guilt the former Rogue Slayer would no doubt already be feeling.

She could hear Faith singing what sounded like a drunken version of Nelly's Hot in Herre and she could hear Giles and Angel pleading with her to keep her clothes on. When she walked in she was greeted to the sight of her girlfriend lying in a hospital bed with Giles and Angel on either side of her each with a section of the hospital gown she was wearing in their hands to prevent her from taking it off.

"I see somebody is feeling better," Buffy smirked walking further into the room.

"Hey B, Angel look it's B, Giles it's B can you see B G?" Faith asked.

"Buffy," Angel and Giles said simultaneously.

"Are you alright?" her Watcher asked.

"I'm fine, pumped full of O Positive," Buffy said.

"Sometimes I wonder what horses do when they get lonely," Faith said.

"They uh, gave her some sedatives when she got a little bit rowdy," Giles explained, "They didn't exactly sedate her so much as..."

"Make her stoned," Buffy giggled when Faith stared in wonder at her own hand.

"At least the dreadful singing has stopped," Giles said rubbing a hand over his eyes.

"If you guys don't mind I'd like to talk to her," Buffy said.

"I'm glad you're alright," Angel said to her kissing her on the forehead as he left the room.

"We'll be close by if you need us," Giles said rubbing her shoulder affectionately before following Angel and the doctor out the door.

"We will have to go soon because we're already way past visiting hours but Giles is going to drive us back home and Angel will stay with us tonight so we're safe," Dawn said kissing Buffy on the cheek, "I'm glad you're both alright and we'll come early tomorrow to see if they'll discharge you quickly."

"Thanks Dawnie, stay safe," Buffy said pulling her in for a quick hug before ushering her out the door with the others.

"Was it something I said?" Faith asked her lower lip trembling when she realised everyone else had left.

"No baby they just went to get some snacks so they can be all comfy for the second part of your concert," Buffy chuckled moving to sit in the chair by Faith's bed Angel had recently vacated, "How are you doing?" she asked smoothing Faith's wavy hair away from her forehead.

"I can't feel my ears," Faith said seriously, "I think Giles stole them."

"Do you want me to go and get them back?" Buffy asked.

"Can I borrow yours?"

"Always," Buffy said leaning in and kissing Faith softly on the lips.

"Can I tell you a secret B?"

"Baby you can tell me anything."

"We just kissed," Faith whispered, "But ssshh don't tell B."

"I won't I promise," Buffy smiled, "I'm so happy you're alright I would've died if you hadn't pulled through."

"I'm a person did you know that," Faith said, "Angel told me. I'm not a vampire."

"I know," Buffy chuckled, "Did you know you're my favourite person."

"I think Mr. Gordo hates me," Faith said, "He used to be the favourite."

"He'll get over it," Buffy said.

"Let's cook him dinner, food fixes everything," Faith said.

"As soon as we get back to the house you can cook for him," Buffy said.

"I'm going to cook him some soup," Faith said, "You know why?"

"Why?"

"Because it's got no bacon in it," Faith said breaking off into laughter.

"You're a nut," Buffy chuckled.

"A peanut," Faith said solemnly, "But don't tell anybody its top secret information."

"Here I was thinking I would come in here and we would have a nice deep and meaningful conversation about our near death experiences and how happy we were to finally get to be together," Buffy giggled, "But this really isn't the time."

"Hey B did you know I love B?" Faith asked, "From the tips of my toes to the top of my head which is a long way for B because she's really short."

"You're sweet even if you are stoned out of your mind," Buffy said leaning forward and kissing Faith again.

"Buffy and Faith sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G."


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: **Well this is it folks, the end of the road. I would like to thank each and every one of you who stuck around during this long process. Thanks so much for everybody who took the time to write me a review, your feedback always means so much and it was a great encouragement to get this finished.

After Faith eventually passed out from the sedatives she had been given Buffy settled herself on the bed next to the younger girl and let herself relax for the first time in what felt like years. She lay with her head resting on Faith's chest the constant and strong thudding of the other girl's heartbeat pounding comfortingly in her ear. Buffy was so happy she almost started to cry when Faith started to snore softly proof that the younger girl was most definitely alive and resting peacefully for the first time in forever.

Buffy shifted on the bed turning on her side so she could look up at Faith's face. She didn't know why it had taken her so long to realise the beauty of her sister Slayer. Her expressive eyebrows flawlessly framed her eyes and twitched a little as she dreamt. Faith's eyes were really the windows to her soul and their deep chocolate brown could reveal exactly how she was feeling even when she tried to hide it. Her skin was paler than usual after spending so much time indoors lately but it was smooth and just begging to be touched. The smattering of freckles on her nose gave an almost innocent air to a face that had witnessed more horrors in her young life than anyone ever should and the little mole at the corner of her mouth was so distinctive yet so subtle at the same time and in a way completely mirrored Faith's personality. Perhaps the most beautiful feature were the full lips that were slightly parted in sleep but could dish out both love and hate when they wanted.

"You really are beautiful," Buffy whispered into the silence entwining her fingers in Faith's long wavy hair.

"_And quite the catch,"_ a cheerful voice replied.

Buffy looked up sharply when she recognised the overly jovial tone of Mayor Richard Wilkins.

"You need to leave," she gritted her teeth hating that she couldn't touch the man that facilitated Faith's downfall into darkness.

"_Now, now that is no way to talk to your elders,"_ the man said, "_My Faithy deserves to be with someone who has some manners."_

"She's not yours," Buffy replied.

"_I think I know a whole lot more about her than you do,"_ the Mayor chuckled, "_Because my gosh you sure weren't quick to let her into your precious inner circle."_

"I didn't mean to," Buffy faltered before clearing her throat. She had to keep reminding herself that this wasn't really the mayor, this was the First Evil and it was trying to get under her skin.

"_But you did and my poor Faithy got hurt in the process," _the Mayor said, "_And then you plunged that knife into her stomach and practically killed her. I've got to say that really isn't proper behaviour for a young lady."_

"Well she was a younger lady than I was and you had her going out and sticking knives in the stomachs of professors," Buffy said angrily.

"_And she did it with a smile on her face because she knew it would make me happy," _the Mayor smiled brightly, "_That girl would do anything for me and boy did I love her for it."_

"You don't know a thing about loving her," Buffy sneered.

"_I know a lot more about loving her then anybody ever has," _the Mayor said matter of factly, "_The truth of the matter is my Faithy had never known what love was until she met me and she loved me back for it. Do you think that's going to come between you? The fact that she could love somebody as evil as I am?"_

"I don't think anything is going to come between us," Buffy said confidently gripping Faith's hand beneath the sheet.

"_But something already has,"_ Mayor Wilkins smiled, "_She nearly killed you and my Faithy won't be able to handle that. She's going to always remember that she hurt you and it's going to break her."_

"You're wrong," Buffy said, "You don't know her anymore and if it does break her I'll be there to pick up the pieces. I'll always be there."

"_Will you though?"_ her own voice answered her back as the First took on her own image, "_Look at your past, you can't make it stick."_

"She's different, I've never felt anything like what I feel for her and I know in my heart that we can make this work. Which is more than I can say for you because any day now we're going to be kicking your ass so hard you're not going to know what hit you."

"_You're so confident of that,"_ the First chuckled, "_It's almost comical. Don't you see how easy it was for me to break her. I can do it again just like that and there's nothing you can do to stop me."_

"And why her? Why did you pick her?"

"_It was one of my more genius ideas," _the First said perching itself on the end of the hospital bed, "_She was already alone, isolated from the rest of you and as selfish as you are you didn't even think of clueing her in on what was happening. It was so easy, she was already torturing herself over what she had done I only had to give her nightmares a body and with a little help from my magical friends I could control the prison guards, ordering them to torture her on a daily basis so that her stay in prison was literally hell. You are so adamant at doing what's right I would gain an advantage whatever way this went. Should you let her die and be turned she would be my most powerful ally and you would be so devastated you had killed her you would be off your game and not be able to stop me from pulling your friends and Potential Slayers apart. If it went the other way and she gets carried away she would drain you and even if she didn't she would be devastated that she had hurt you or possibly killed you and she would be useless and you would be gone."_

"But I'm not," Buffy smiled for the first time since the First appeared, "I'm alive and she's alive so your master plan kind of went kablooey, bet that hurts."

"_It may have failed but I'm not done with you ladies yet you can be sure of that,"_ the First growled, "_I'm going to make you bleed and I'm going to make you watch as I kill each and every one of your friends."_

"But you can't do anything really right," Buffy said, "I mean you can't even touch us. You're just like this big hologram guy who is all talk but needs other people to do stuff for him. You know for an evil guy you're kind of sucky."

"_I will dance in your entrails girl, I will make you beg for death and in a never ending shroud of excruciating pain," _the First snarled.

"Big words for something that can't even touch me," Buffy said, "See this is how it's gonna go. You're going to leave and I'm going to enjoy some alone time with my girlfriend, who by the way is so not going to be happy to see you, and then when we get out of here we're going to destroy you. I think that sounds like a plan don't you."

"_This isn't over,"_ the First snapped before disappearing with a slight popping sound.

"I thought I just said that," Buffy sighed, "I swear nobody listens to me."

"It's 'cause your speeches are kind of long winded," a raspy voice said making her jump.

"I going to attribute that to your sedatives," Buffy pouted, "I've been told my speeches are nothing but inspirational."

"Inspirational in the how not to make a speech sense," Faith teased.

"You must be feeling better if you're teasing me," Buffy smiled brightly, "And also look at us, both alive and kicking, score one for the good guys."

"I'm sorry," Faith said, her smile instantly dropping, "I-I nearly killed you but I just couldn't stop."

"It's okay," Buffy promised, "Besides it gives another meaning to eating me out."

"B!" Faith gasped, "Did you just make a pun about sex? Did you suffer brain damage or something when I drunk from you."

"Nope, cogs are still ticking," Buffy said, "Guess I'm just happy and have apparently been spending too much time with you."

"Is that a bad thing?" Faith asked almost shyly.

"Never," Buffy said suddenly serious, "I have spent too much time without you that I never want to be apart, and don't laugh at how corny that sounds because trying to describe how you feel always comes out sounding corny."

"I feel like I will break in two if I don't kiss you soon because you are my other half and you complete me," Faith said.

"See corny," Buffy replied although inside her heart absolutely soared.

"And no less true," Faith replied, "I love you B, with all my heart. You make me feel like I've never felt before and it scares the shit out of me but I feel like together we can get through anything life throws at us. Fuck, why is it so hard to not make that sound corny."

"Because true love is clichéd and it's a cliché because everybody wants it. We've been to hell and back and it hasn't been easy but when we finally found each other, really found each other everything fell into place," Buffy said.

"I've never done this," Faith told her, "I've never been with someone longer than one night. I don't know how to."

"I'll show you," Buffy said softly, "It might not be easy but I know we can do it. I-I'm sorry, for everything, for how I treated you in the past, really I am."

"I am too," Faith said wrapping her arm around Buffy's shoulders, "You know while I was locked up, while all that shit was happening to me, thinking about you was the only thing that got me through."

"Talk about fate sending you a sign," Buffy chuckled.

"I always knew," Faith said softly, "From the moment I first met you and you were so pissed off in your little dress that I'd strolled in onto your turf and stolen your kill, I knew that I loved you."

"I can remember being slightly jealous that I didn't look that good in leather pants," Buffy blushed.

"Oh you look plenty good if memory serves," Faith smirked.

"So how are you feeling because I kind of promised a big bad we would go kick the snot out of him later," Buffy asked snuggling in under Faith's chin.

"Oh fuck yeah do I have a score to settle with that incorporeal bastard," Faith said.

"So that's a yes then?"

"Big fucking yes," Faith asserted.

"Such a way with words," Buffy chuckled, "I love you."

"I love you too," Faith replied, "Fuck it feels weird saying that but also right at the same time. We're really going to do this aren't we? Be together."

"Yeah we are," Buffy sighed happily, "Faith?"

"Yeah B?"

"Are you going to kiss me soon?"

"You better believe it girlfriend, and afterwards you and me we're going to go and kill us a centuries old evil."


End file.
